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OF THE 


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT OF 


Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. 
Received October, 1894. 


Accessions No. § T7934. Class No. baie 


























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CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


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TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 





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“WITH 334 


NOTES AND A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR, 


BY THE 


REV. JOHN W. FERGUSON, A. M. 


MINISTER OF ST. PETER’S EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, EDINBURGH. 


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CONTENTS. 


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR : . 6 

I. THE CHARACTER OF CORNELIUS . . gil 

Il. THE VISION OF CORNELIUS ; : ; 21 

II]. THE VISION OF PETER ; : ; 33 
IV. THE ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS OF CORNE- 

LIUS AT JOPPA . ; ‘ ; ; 47 

V. THE MEETING OF PETER AND CORNELIUS ; 59 


VI.— XII. PETER’s SERMON. 


vi. God, no respecter of Persons : es 
vir. Jesus Christ the Lord of all, the Author of Poine 3 ee 
vil. Christ anointed with the Holy Ghost. :.. se 

ix. The Apostles, the Witnesses of Christ . 106 

x. Christ Crucified and Risen again 120 

x1. Christ Ordained to be the Judge of the Quick sad 
Dead ) mie, ee 

xu. Remission of Sins tieagh Faith 8 Christ ‘ . 148 


XIil. tHE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES 161 


XIV. THE GENTILES BAPTIZED . ; ‘ ; 176 
XV. PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS CERTAIN 
DAYS . : s : : : F 189 


Notes : : ; ; : + Se 





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- ‘Tue following brief account of Freperick ADoLPH 
KrummacHer will probably prove not uninteresting to 
those who appreciate the Christian sentiment and culti- 
vated mind displayed in “ Cornelius the Centurion,” the 
production of one who has long been eminently distin- 
« guished among his countrymen, both as a clergyman and 
as an author, in the higher departments of literature. 
F. A. Krummacher was born at Tecklenburgh, in 
Westphalia, on the 13th July, 1768. After having 
been employed as Professor of Theology in the Uni- 
versity of Duisburg, he became a minister in the Re- 
formed Church at Krefeld in 1807, where he undertook 
the cure of souls, as more congenial to his feelings. 
This situation he exchanged for a country parish at 
Kettwick, in Westphalia, from which he removed to a 
wider sphere of usefulness in Bemburg; here he contin- 
1* 





vl BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE — 


ued til] 1824, his labors being abundantly blessed by 
the Great Head of the Church. Since that period he 
has been a clergyman in Bremen, where he still con- 
tinues, respected for the consistency of his character and 
the apostolic simplicity of his life. He oles hing g ag 
From an early period, he has been intimat ely | 
quainted with ancient and modern poetry ; this, along 
with his profound knowledge of the language an hs 
toms of the Eastern world, and his diligent study of the 
Scriptures, has given that peculiar bent to his mind 






which beams through all his writings. His various — 


compositions abound with images and comparisons ; and 
he generally endeavors to convey knowledge, and to 
express his sentiments, through the medium of poetry. 

. He was early accustomed to trace the development 
of the human spirit through all the gradations of life ; 
and, being gifted with a keen sense of the beauties of 
nature, and having a mind alive to the language in 
which nature speaks, he saw everywhere. similitudes 
and allegories which were symbolical of hidden truths, 
—these he endeavored to express in the simplest lan- 
guage, SO as to be intelligible even to a child. Hesaw 
that the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of grace 
bore the impress of one Infinite mind, and the exhibi- 
tions of that mind in the works of creation and in the 
inspired volume, he found to be in perfect harmony 
with each other ; and these analogies it was his peculiar 
delight to trace. : 


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OF THE AUTHOR. Vil 


He appears to be thoroughly imbued with a striking 
feature of the German character—a delight in children ; 
and the great beauty and simplicity of his style have 
eminently qualified him for being the successful writer 
7 “efor their instruction, which he has proved himself to be 
h is 0 own land. To use the words of a foreign critic, 
it was the delight of his heart to find enjoyment in 

ery thing,—in playing with a child, in looking on a 

blooming rose, in contemplating the variegated colors 
of the evening sky, in confidential friendship, and in the 
quiet hours of study.” — 

By his countrymen he is regarded as a poet of no 
ordinary rank; in his poem entitled ‘The Child’s 
World, there is, according to a German reviewer, no 
display of creative genius, but that spirit which de- 
lights in the words, ‘ Suffer little children to come un- 
to me.’ 

In portraying the character of Cornelius, he evinces 
a mind actuated by the same purity of motives, by the 
same desire for truth, and is evidently in possession of 
the key which opens up to him every step in the pro- 
gress of the Centurion, from the first dawning of divine 
light on his soul, until blessed with the full blaze of it 
in the ministrations of the Apostle of the Jews. It wasa 
saying of one of the early fathers of the church, “If you 

wish to apprehend the meaning of St. Paul’s writings, 
you must first imbibe his spirit.” This remark may be — 
applied with much truth to the author of Cornelius,—it 










viii BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 


is impossible to read his analysis of this New Testa- 
ment Abraham’s mind and feelings, without being con- 
vinced that his own path has been that of the just, 
which, like the shining light, shineth more and more 
unto the perfect day. The following extract from’ the — 
Author’s preface, will shew the circumstances in which 
the work was composed :—“ The meditations on the 
conversion of the heathen Centurion and his household, 
were originally preached as sermons in Bremen. They 
are now divested of that form, some are enlarged, and 
some curtailed. The style is historical, as being suited 
to the subject, and my own views of Scripture. It ap- 
pears to me that the numerous divine manifestations re- 
lated in the Old and New Testaments, may be regard- 
ed as one continued history of God in his relation to 
man. Luther calls it “ the History of all histories,” for 
it is an account of the stupendous miracles of the divine 
majesty and grace, from the beginning even unto eter- 
nity. The sermon of the Apostle Peter is the simplest, 
and at the same time, the most comprehensive of all 
narrations. 

“Jn the same spirit, our Lord Jesus compares the 
history of the kingdom of heaven, to the development 
of a little seed of corn, or a grain of mustard seed ; for 
the operations and the secret inflence ‘of God are every 
where the same, in the kingdom of nature, and in 
the kingdom of grace, as well as in the kingdom of 


glory. 


OF THE AUTHOR. ' ix 


“The life of the Centurion Cornelius is a flower 
plucked from the garden of Jehovah; I hope I have 
written it with that simplicity and candor, which is es- 
sential to history, if we wish it to resemble a mirror, in 
faithfully depicting incidents as they occur.” 


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“CORNER ULUS.. 


CHAPTER IL. 
THE CHARACTER OF CORNELIUS. 


Tue history of the Centurion Cornelius, which the 
Evangelist Luke has preserved in his Acts of the Apos- 
tles, is well worthy of our devout and attentive consid- 
eration ; for it is a renewal of the holy feast of Pente- 
cost among the heathen, and in a heathen house. In 
Cornelius we see a remarkable example of the power 
of the Holy Spirit, when He calls, enlightens, sanctifies, 
and blesses men; and we also behold the saving mercy 
of our great God and Redeemer, in letting himself down 
to those that seek him, so that ‘they may feel after him 
and find him,’ Acts xvii. 27. It would, indeed, be difficult 
to get another history in which the mysterious connec- 
tion between the visible and the invisible world lies 
more clearly open to our view. What an inestimable 
blessing the word of God has bestowed on us in describ- 
ing so circumstantially, the inmost character of this 
soldier, thirsting after truth, searching, longing for, and 
at last joyfully finding peace! Are not his wants our 


12 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


wants? Do not our hearts, if we rightly understood 
them, sigh for the peace and the happiness which he 
sought for and found? Let us, therefore, turn our at- 
tention to this Simeon among the heathen, who earnestly 
sought for the consolation of Israel and the light of the 
Gentiles ; and who was esteemed worthy to behold the 
Savior, and in him to find peace. 

“We praise thee, O Lord our God, that Thou, in thy 
precious word, hast preserved to us the inmost history 
of thy chosen ones, and thy manifestations of grace un- 
to them. This Thou hast done that we may have our 
hearts quickened, by looking on them, and learn how 
to direct our feet in the paths of peace. Enlighten our 
eyes, that we, by the guidance of thy Holy Spirit, 
may rightly apprehend thy grace and truth; and that, 
following the example of our Savior, we may more and 
more be partakers of thy light and peace. Amen.” 





“ There was a certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a 
Centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, 
and one that feared God with all his house, which gave 
much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.”— 
Acts x. 1, 2. piece 


Wiru these simple words the Evangelist opens the 
history of the mighty acts of God among the Gentiles ; 
his subject hitherto has been the announcement of the 
gospel to the Jews and Samaritans only; but here he 
‘describes the dwelling place and rank, the person and 
character of the man in whom the Lord’s mercy and 
truth were to be manifested. 


HIS CHARACTER. 13 


“ There was a certain man in Casarea.”? Cesarea, 
or, in other words, Cesar’s town, was a city of consid- 
erable importance, on the Mediterranean Sea, which 
Herod had greatly embellished, and though it had for- 
merly borne another name, called it Caesarea, in honor 
of the Roman emperor. 

It was at present the capital of Judea and the adjom- 
ing province of Syria, as well as the residence of the 
Roman governor. A garrison was stationed here, which 
consisted partly of native Syrians, and partly of Italian 
or Roman troops. Cornelius was Captain of an Italian 
company, a man remarkable, as being the first among 
the Gentiles who, by the preaching of the Apostle, was 
led to believe m the name of Jesus, and to make an 
open profession of the gospel. 

Cornelius is, besides, the first mentioned among 
those ‘who were afar off, but whom it was promised 
that God should call,’ Acts u. 39; andalso the first 
among the millions of Gentiles, who were to be turned 
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
unto God. But he concerns us more nearly, in being 
our New Testament Abraham ; for in him began God’s 
work of mercy, whereby our Gentile forefathers were 
admitted into the flock of the Great Shepherd. 

Cornelius was a Roman Captain. His rank and pro- 
fession were not the most likely to lead him to the in- 
vestigation and acknowledgement of the truth; on the 
contrary, it was more probable they would lead him 
away from it. 

The gospel is not confined to any station or calling ; 
all who have eyes to see, and ears to hear, may be beni- 

2 


14 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


fited by it, whether clad in warlike accoutrements, in 
purple, or in the garments of poverty. It is the light of 
God, which shines not less on the blade of grass than 
on the tall cedar, illuminating the cottage as well as the 
palace. Here there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond 
nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ ; 
Gal. i. 28. 

Cornelius is the fourth Centurion cbeianidendeae in the 
New Testament on account of his faith. The first of 
whom we read is the one at Capernaum, who entreated 
our Lord, with great humility, to heal his servant, and on 
whom our Savior pronounced this high encomium—‘ Ve- 
rily I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel’— 
at the same time prophesying of those who should come 
from the east and the west, and should sit down with 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 
The second* is the other Centurion at Capernaum, who 
asked and obtained from our Lord the healing of his 
sick child, after the physicians had been employed in 
vain. Next comes the one who kept watch at the 
cross of Christ, at whose death, being seized by an over- 
whelming conviction ‘of the truth, he cried out, ‘ Truly 
this was the Son of God! Lastly, there is our Corne- 
lius, who, in mind and character, humility and_ faith, 
bears a strong resemblance to the first at Capernaum. 
St. Paul says that God has chosen ‘ not many wise men 
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble ;’} yet 
he has always chosen some of them. Yes, even now, 
there are not a few who, high in worldly rank and hon- 


* See Note A. - t See Note B, 


HIS CHARACTER. 15 


or, engage with apostolic zeal, and a child-like, hum- 
ble, scripture faith, in spreading the word of God, and 
the light of the gospel amongst the heathen. 

Our Cornelius was by birth and education a pagan 
and not a proselyte. Of the latter there were two 
kinds: those who, renouncing heathenism, embrace 
judaism, and underwent circumcision, conforming to 
the whole Levitical law, called proselytes of justice, or 
proselytes of the house, because they were incorporated 
with the house or people of Israel, and those who, re- 
nouncing heathenism and the worship of idols, merely 
professed their belief in one God, and pledged them- 
selves to obey the moral law, but without undergoing 
circumcision, or observing the Levitical law and ser- 
vice. These were called proselytes of the gate, being, 
as it were, excluded from the interior of the house. 
But Cornelius was neither.* Had he been a proselyte 
of justice, or of the gate, Peter would not have been 
unwilling to receive him into the community of Chris- 
tians, when so many proselytes of all nations were to be 
found among those baptised after his preaching on the 
day of Pentecost. Nor would ‘ they of the circumci- 
sion which believed,’ who accompanied Peter, having 
been astonished, ‘ because that on the Gentiles also was 
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.’ Cornelius was 
a Gentile by birth,—but certainly no Gentile in mind 
or character, no worshipper of idols, for he acknow- 
ledged and feared the one true God, the God of Israel. 

How could he have attained such a clever under- 
standing? In no other way than by the word, and the 


* See note C. 


16 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


grace of God: for the Holy Scriptures had even then 
made their silent, secret way through a great part of 
the world. Such is their nature and destination, so it 
is in the present day, and so it shall be unceasingly, 
The knowledge of the one living God had been spread 
among the Gentiles, through the scattering of the Jew- 
ish people, during the Assyrian and Babylonian captiv- 
ities. Besides, in Egypt, two hundred years before the 
birth of Christ, the written word of God had been 
made accessible to the great mass of the people, being 
translated into Greek, the language of the civilized 
world. In this manner, probably, the word of truth 
had reached the Gentile Cornelius, and through its 
means, he had arrived at the knowledge of God. With- 
out doubt, he had heard also of the mighty deeds of the 
Lord which were done in Judea, and of the messengers 
of God, who, like Philip, in Syria, and even in Cesarea 
and its invirons, were announcing the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ. 

Yet man is not saved by the mere acknowledgement 
of this all-imporant truth for it may be only a barren 
conviction. Indeed, the falling away of all nations, in 
the early ages, from this simple belief, their loss of 
the knowledge. of the one true God, and the conse- 
quent strictness with which He maintained his wor- | 
ship amongst his chosen people, is a fearful proof 
of the deep deterioration and delusion of men. The 
acknowledgement of one God and an Almighty Crea- 
tor, is but the commencement of a Christian’s life ; the 
devils know that there is a God, but while they believe, 
they tremble. The prodigal son knew well that he 


HIS CHARACTER. 17 


had a father, but of what service was this to him, until 
his wounded heart was awakened to long for this fa- 
ther, and for a reconciliation with him! In our Corne- | 
hus, it was not a barren conviction ; on the contrary, it 
was a heart-felt desire for the living God, and for his 
revelation. 

. © For he was a devout man, and one that feared God, 
with all his house.’ 

Devout is a beautiful word, and is bend full of signifi- 
cation—that Cornelius, after he had learned to know 
the true and living God, made meditation on him, and 
seeking after his fellowship, his highest and most ear- 
nest occupation, the guiding principle of his thoughts 
and life. He also feared God ; the one cannot be se- 
parated from the other, for the fear of God is an hum- 
ble holy veneration of the most High, and is grounded 
on a lively conviction of His glory and omnipotence, 


_ who is King of kings and Lord of lords, who dwelleth 


in a light which no man can approach unto. _Whoso- 
ever knows God aright, cannot be otherwise than pene- 
trated with a holy awe. The fear of the Lord is the 
beginning of wisdom; therefore, saith the law, (Deu- 
teronomy x. 12,) ‘ And now Israel, what doth the Lord ~ 
thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, 
to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy 
soul.’ 

This fear of God shows itself in a holy detestation of 
thinking, wishing, or doing, anything that displeases 
‘on : 


Such was Cornelius; and such was his whole house- 
9O* 


18 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


hold, his wife, children, and servants; we find two of 
the latter mentioned in the 7th verse, besides the de- 
vout soldier who waited on him continually. The 
words of Joshua, ‘ I and my house will serve the Lord,’ 
were also in the heart of our Centurion—his light 
shown brightly, that all his house might fear and seek 
the Lord along with him. Though Cornelius, as a Gen- 
tile, might not enter the Synagogue of the Jews, yet, 
what was far better, he could transform his house into 
a temple of God! Blessed is that house where they 
fear the Lord thus, and walk in his ways! 

If his house were a temple, offerings of love were the 
sacrifices which he brought thither; ‘he gave much 
alms to the people,’ and fulfilled the law,— Is it not to 
deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the 
poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest 
the naked, that thou cover him ; and that thou hide not 
thyself from thine own flesh ?” ental lvin. 7. 

*‘ He gave much alms ;’—plenteously, and with kind- 
ness, he dispensed his’ pitts, and was not weary of well 
doing. 

‘ He gave to the people,—that i is to say, to the poor of 
the Jewish nation—to the people of God, whose debtor 
he was, in order to show his gratitude for being par- 
taker of their spiritual things. Cornelius proved his 
devotion and fear of God in his compassionate and be- 
nevolent love towards his neighbor: on which account 
he was of good report among all the nation of the Jews, 
verse 22. And, what is much more, in him was ful- 
filled the promise made by Isaiah, in the name of. the 
Lord, to those who exhibited love, out of a pure heart _ 


HIS CHARACTER. 19 


and faith unfeigned— Then shall thy light break forth 

‘as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth 
speedily ; and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; 
the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.’ 

The sacred history, after it has, in a few words, de- 
picted his mind and habits, leads us now into his cham- 
ber, ‘ He prayed to God alway.’ Here we see the sa- 
crifice of his lips, which was well pleasing unto his 
heavenly Father. 

Not merely in his chamber, but in every place, and at 
all times, his heart was in thought and prayer, directed 
upwards to the source of all light. He praised and 
thanked God for the work of grace which He had be- 
gun in him, and for the light with which He had bless- 
ed him. 

But, at the same tiaws, in the irom ctl presence of 
such a holy and good God, he perceived the more clear- 
ly his distance from Him—his own poverty and defi- 
ciency—his sinfulness, and the darkness of his mind ; 
and so much the more ardent became his desire for en- 
lightenment, for purification, and holiness. He besought, 
therefore, farther grace, and more abundant gifts from 
God, and prayed to Him continually. | 


In this manner does the word of God, ‘ that*discerner 
of the thoughts and intents of the heart,’ portray Cor- 
nelius the Gentile. Most lovely picture! But dots it — 
not put to shame many whom the Lord has called from 
the beginning to the inheritance of his holy ones in 
light ? 

_ What with this Gentile was but the commencement 


* 


20 CORNELIUS ‘THE CENTURION. 


his devotion and fear of God, his love of his neighbor, 
his aspirations and prayers—should much more be the 
daily occupation of the children of light! the blossoms 
and fruits of their lives! Is not the path of Cornelius 
the only right path to life, to freedom and happiness for 
the children of God! Cornelius, as yet, had not this 
joy; his eyes had not yet seen his Savior; but even 
then, he longed with his whole heart, and-we may put 
in his mouth the words of Psalm xl. ‘As the hart 
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after 
thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God; when shallI 
come and appear before God! But, if the Lord make 
a refreshing fountain spring up in the thickets of the 
wood, for the hart panting with thirst, how much more 
shall he open the fountain of life to those who seek 
him! Here may we use the concluding words of the 
Psalm, ‘ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? why art 
thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I 
shall yet praise him, who is the neath of my counte- 
nance and my God.’ 
__ So happened it to our Cornelius. He longed for the 
salvation of Israel, for the kingdom of God, which is 
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and. it 
was given to him in full measure. In him was fulfilled 
the divixfe promise: ‘The Lord is nigh unto all 
them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in 
truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him, 
he also will hear their cry and will save them,’ Psalm 
cxly. 18,19. 

O Lord! draw us unto thee! for thou hast made us, 
and our heart is ever disquieted until it find peace in 
resting upon thee ! 


CHAPTER Il. 


THE VISION OF CORNELIUS. 


Tue history of the Centurion Cornelius is written mi- 
nutely and circumstantially, not merely because he was 
the first Gentile whom the Apostle converted and bap- 
tized ; but that in him we might see how very precious 
each individual is in the eyes of God. In the external 
world, man is but a-cipher: ‘ As for man, his days are 
as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth ; for 
the wind passeth over it, and it is gone ; and the place 
thereof shall know it no more.’ Psalm ciii. 15, 16. 

So it is with all the generations of men, they wither 
and fall away like the leaves of the trees in autumn ; 
their memory and even their name disappears from the 
earth, as if they had never been. How transitory and 
uncertain is the life of man, who yet dwells here so se- 
curely! We cannot think of ourselves too humbly or 
too insignificantly ; nor yet can we regard ourselves too 
highly, when we look up to God, to the living God, 
who, before the foundations of the world were laid, 
chose and ordained us to be his children through Christ. 
- Therefore the royal Psalmist, after comparing man 
to the grass and the flower of the field, continues, in 
Psalm ciii: ‘But the mercy of the Lord is from ever- 
lasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him, and his 
righteousness unto children’s children ; to such as keep 


22 ‘CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


his covenant, and to those that remember his command- 
ments to do them.’ 

And thus speaks the prophet in these moving words : 
‘Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should 
not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, 
they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold I 
have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.’ Isaiah 
xlix. 15, 16. 

The gospel shows us the value of even one human 
being in the eyes of God, when Jesus made the children 
come to him, so little esteemed by his disciples, took 
them in his arms one after another, and blessed them, 
saying, ‘Of these are the kingdom of heaven; and 
when he described himself as the faithful shepherd, who 
left the ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness, to go 
after the one which was lost: and again, when he saith, 
‘ There shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that re- 
penteth.” In our history we may well wonder at the 
great instruments employed, and at heaven and earth set 
in motion, so to speak, for the sake of one individual. 

But has not God the Lord, by means of one man, 
‘blessed all the dwellers upon earth? Has he not: pre- 
sented to us one Abraham for an example of righteous- 
ness by faith, and did he not by one Moses ratify the old 
covenant? And above all, ‘ As by the offence of. one, 
_ Judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so 
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all 
men unto justification of life? Every man, therefore, 
in the confidence of faith, may look beyond the sun and 
stars of heaven and say, ‘ Thine eyes did see my sub- 
stance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my 


HIS VISION. 23 


members were written, which in continuance were 
fashioned when as yet there was none of them.’—Ps. 
cxxxix. 16. 





‘He saw in a vision evidently, about the ninth hourof the day, 
an angel of God coming unto him, and saying unto him, Cor- 
nelius. And when he looked upon him, he was afraid, and 
said, Whatis it Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers: 
and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. 
And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose 
surname is Peter; he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, 
whose house is by the sea-side; he shall tell thee what 
thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake 
unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household 
servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him 

- continually ; and when he had declared all these things unto 
them, he sent them to Joppa.’—Acts x. 3—8. 


Tue history here begins to show how God drew nigh 
unto Cornelius, when striving diligently to find him, -ac- 
cording to his promise, that he would manifest himself 
to those that seek him. This happened gradually, and 
by a revelation from the invisible world. 

The devout, child-like believer, was not without hope 
that his desire for the light and countenance of God 
would be gratified ; this was probably increased by the 
intelligence he had received, of the announcement of 
the gospel in the neighborhood of Czsarea, particu- 
larly in Samaria, by Philip and those Christians who 
were exiled from Jerusalem. How often must he have 
sighed, ‘Oh! that one of these messengers of God would 
come unto me, to point out the path of salvation and 


24 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


peace!” He continued in prayer and fasting, from the 
morning until the ninth hour, in order to become free 
from all that is earthly, and more susceptible of the 
much-longed for grace and revelation. He strove to 
fulfil all the demands of the law, in order to attain a 
higher life and peace than the law could give ; he hun- 
gered and thirsted after that ie Bb lahiat of which he 
had only a faint idea. : 

According to his custom, he had now fasted and 
prayed until the ninth hour; it was the time of the eve- 
ning sacrifice, when the Jews went to the temple to 
pray ; and the wish of David was in his heart, ‘ Let my 
prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lift- 
ing up of my hands as s the evening sacrifice.’—Psalm 
exli. 2. 

‘ Then had hea vision,’—that is to say, a most won- 
derful power of sight was imparted to him. What our 
natural sight is, we know from daily experience, and 
yet we never think how wonderful such a giftis. Place 
yourself in thought for one moment in the situation of 
the man born blind, whom our Lord sent to wash in the 
pool of Siloam, and who, when he raised his head, had 
received his sight. How must he have felt, when he 
beheld, for the first time, Mount Sion with its temple,- 
the city of Jerusalem, the blue heavens, and the sun 
with its glorious light! All this, streamed into his eye, 
was formed and dwelt there. How wonderful it is, 
that through the small aperture of the eye, the great, 
the vast starry firmament enters in! He who formed 
the eye, shall he not see! He who has given us our 
ordinary sight, in its nature and properties so inexpli- 


HIS VISION. 25 


cable, has he not another, a higher, and deeper vision in 
store for us! 

In our history a vision is described, in which He who 
formed the eye, now made it discern spiritual objects. 
He had promised it, when he said in Numbers xu. 6, 
‘If there be a prophet among you, 1! the Lord will 
make myself known unto him ina vision.’ And in Joel, 
and by the Apostle Peter, ‘ Your sons and your daugh- 
ters shall prophesy, and your young men shall dream 
dreams! He has often fulfilled it, in different ways, to 
his chosen ones, during both the old and new covenants. 
Jacob saw the heavenly ladder in a dream, while his 
bodily eyes were closed; and the angel of the Lord 
appeared to Joseph, the supposed father of Christ, in a 
dream ; Peter (verse 10th) was entranced, in order to 
receive the counsel of God; and Paul was carried into 
the third heaven to hear words which no man could ut- 
ter. Others, like the shepherds at Bethlehem, the wo- 
men at the tomb, and the disciples after our Lord’s as- 
cension, saw with their bodily eyes heavenly beings. 
Cornelius also had a vision in the day-time, while fully 
awake, and conscious of what was passing around him. 

‘ He saw anangel of God coming unto him.’—The 
whole Scripture teaches us, that God, im his all-encir- 
cling government of the world, makes use every where 
of means and instruments; he does not circumscribe, 
thereby, his own power or glory, but, on the contrary, 
makes them appear more evident to man. 

After God had said, ‘ Let there be light—and there 
was light,’ he had no need to place the sun in the heay- 
ens, that through it light might be transmitted; but he 

3 


26 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


has done it, and thus we have a sign and a token of his 
almighty power and love, and, at the same time, a visi- 
ble picture before our eyes of him who is love itself. 
He, the Almighty, needed not the help of angels to ac- 
complish his purpose; but his love willed the existence 
of such beings, who, near himself, participating in his 
glory, and acting in his service, might enjoy his God- 
like nature in a higher degree than man. 

Like the earth, heaven also has its apostles,—‘ Bless 
the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do 
his commandments.’ Psalm ci. 20. They are beings, 
not like us, poor children of men, tied to this earth 
—not like us, burdened with an earthly and corruptible 
body—not dust and ashes—but children of light, who 
ever behold the face of their father in heaven. Such 
as they are, blessed, free, and joyful beings, clear as 
the light, and rich in every virtue, we shall one day 
become, as is promised in Luke xx. 6. 

They know this, and wish for it; and to help for- 
ward this great work is their opounetion and their happi- 
ness. They rejoice over each sinner that repenteth, and 
delight in watching over those little ones whom they 
hope to have for their future companions in the kingdom 
ofheaven. ‘ Arethey notall ministering spirits, sent forth 
to minister to them whoshall be heirs of salvation ?’ Heb. 
i. 14. Therefore are they called angels, that is to say, mes- 
sengers, or servants of God. The word of God, with 
fatherly wisdom, has disclosed as much as is. necessary 
for our good, of those inhabitants of the invisible world, 
the blessed as well as the fallen. 

The Scripture is given as a light unto our feet, which 


HIS VISION. 27 


stand here, on earthly ground, and as a lamp unto our 
path, which leads towards heaven. If we receive the 
word of God in humility, and use it in faith, we shall 
esteem ourselves happy in the possession of those heav- 
enly secrets which have been already imparted to us; 
content with godliness, we shall not desire to know and 
understand like God himself. We walk not by sight, 
but by faith, and by this way we shall attain the same 
understanding as the angels of God who surround and 
watch over us. 

The angel of God, whom Cornelius saw coming to 
him, spoke and said—Cornelius! He addressed him 
by that name, which his parents had given him at his 
birth, and by which afterwards,in a more extensive 
circle, friends, relations, and acquaintances, had distin- 
guished him. 

In like manner the Lord called the youth Samuel 
three times by his name, in order to declare his deter- 
mination regarding Israel and the house of Eli, and the 
revelation was made after Samuel had answered, ‘ Speak, 
Lord, thy servant heareth.’ To call by name is a fa- 
miliar mode of approaching any one, to whom we have 
something to disclose; and, i the mouth of the Most 
Holy, is a condescension to the lowly children of men, 
and a particular mark of his personality. 

‘ Mary,’ said he, who rose from the dead to the 
weeping woman, and she recognised him, and fell at 
hisfeet, exclaiming,‘ Rabboni? ‘ Simon, son of Jonas ! 
said the Lord to Peter, three times, with the deepest 
meaning, when he saw him, for the first time, after his 
resurrection, and when the sun of the new life was 


28 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


about to arise from the tears of the fallen disciple. 
What a high honor for a mortal, to be addressed as a 
friend by an inhabitant of the heavens! Blessed is he 
who knows that his nameis written in the book of life, 
and uttered with joy by heavenly beings! — 

‘ Cornelius looked on him.’—The angel stood before 
him, clad in a bright garment—he looked on him and 
was afraid. It always happens thus with the men, to 
whom the inhabitants of heaven visibly appear: Moses, 
Gideon, the shepherds in the fields, and John, all felt 
in the same manner when they beheld their visions. 

Why such terror for those beings, who never come to 
injure, but always to bless, and whose forms, bright as 
the day, can have nothing to excite fear ? 

Alas! It is the childish terror of our first parents, 
when, conscious of their fall, they tried to hide them- 
selves from the sight of God, and which is entailed 
upon us along with their sinfulness, and arises from the 
conviction that we have lost the image of God, and our 
original fellowship with him. When the divinity of 
our Lord Jesus suddenly became apparent to Peter, at 
_ the miraculous draught of fishes, he fell at his feet, and 
said, ‘ Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O- 
Lord! And Abraham, when the Lord came nigh unto 
him, acknowledged himself ‘ to be but dust and ashes ! 
This fear of God and of holy beings is always entwined 
with sinfulness ; and much more with the love of sin. 

» It has been the source of the wide spreading idolatry 
of the whole human race, who, in order to escape from 
it, sought to ‘ change the glory of the incorruptible 
God into an image made like to corruptible man,’ as we 


HIS VISION. ~ ~ 99 


read in Romans i. 23. ‘ The sinners'in Zion are afraid, 
fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among 
us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us" 
shall dwell with everlasting burnings ?—Is. xxxiii. 14. 
It is only in love that there is no fear; ‘ perfect love 
casteth out fear.’ Whosoever experiences fear does 
not yet love fully ;—yet the path towards faith and love 
is certainly through fear. 

It is thus with Cornelius—trembling, and with a se- 
cret awe, he inquired, ‘ What is it, Lord ? 

The answer of the angel contains two things ; the 
assurance of God’s mercy, and a command, telling 
what Cornelius was to do.—‘ Thy prayers and thine 
alms are come up for a memorial before God.’ What 
a condescending speech to man! the prayers and the 
alms of the Gentile Centurion are here spoken of as a 
sacrifice, of which the Scriptures often say, ‘ It has as- 
cended up unto God.’ It was a special mercy of God 
to appoint sacrifices for sinful men placed under the 
law, before he received them as his children ; for they 
were a seal and token to the apostate race, that the 
bond between them and God was not entirely broken, 
and at the same time they were a symbolical promise 
of a future and a perfect reconciliation. 

They were a mutual giving and recetving—on the 
part of man, a free acknowledgment of guilt and sepa- 
ration from God—on that of God, a visible sign of his _ 
grace and compassion, without which the men of the — 
old covenant might well have despaired. Therefore, 
the word of God says, speaking of sacrifices, ‘ the smoke 
ascended up unto God like a sweet smelling savor.’ 

3* 


30 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


This can only be when they are offered with a be- 
heving heart, desirous of salvation, and when the smoke 
and flames of ‘the sacrifice are an emblem of a soul, 
consecrated to God by the fire of his Spirit. Then the 
blessing of the sacrifice returns back on him that offers 
it, as we read in Hosea vi. 6. ‘ For I desired mercy, 
and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more 
than burnt-offerings.’ The sacrifices which the Cen- 
turion offered with his lips and hands, from a devout 
and godly heart, were alms and prayers. 

Such gifts and offerings are well-pleasing unto God, 
they ascend up to him, and are preserved in his remem- 
brance: for ‘the prayers of the humble,’ says Jesus 
the son of Sirach, very beautifully, ‘ pierceth the ~ 
clouds—and will not depart, till the Most High shall 
behold to judge righteously ; and execute judgment. 
And again, ‘ The Lord preserves the good deeds of men 
as a send ring, and their good words as the apple of 
an eye.’ 

The Apostle says also, Heb. vi. 10, ‘ God is not un- 
righteous to forget your work and labor of love, which 
ye have shown toward his name, in that ye have minis- 
tered to the saints, and do minister.’ 

What honor for us mortals? The Lord of heaven 
and earth not only hears our petitions and prayers— 
not only allows us to tell him every thing, and to lay 


open our hearts to him; but permits us also to give unto 


him—preserves our words and our gifts in his remem- 
brance, and they become the common property and 
bond of union between the fatherly heart of our God, 
and the praying, loving, child-like hearts of his chosen 
ones ! 


HIS VISION. 31 


Cornelius had, until now, sought his salvation in the 
path of the old covenant, of the law and the promises, 
by means of fasting, prayers, and alms; the way of 
the new covenant of mercy and truth is now to be laid 
open tohim. After the heavenly messenger had com- 
forted and rejoiced the terrified Centurion by his gra- 
cious words, he continued, ‘ Now send men to Joppa, 
and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter; he 
lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by 
the sea-side; he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to 
do.’ Here we see again the friendly character of the 
inhabitants of heaven, and their sympathizing love 
towards men. Their manner is ever the same. The 
shepherds of Bethlehem were afraid at the coming of 
the angels during the night when the glory of the Lord 
shone round about them; but their fear was soon re- 
moved by the words of the messenger of God, ‘ Fear 
not; for behold! I bring you good tidings of great } JY, 
which shall be to all people.’ _ 

Not only Simon the Apostle was described to Cor- 
nelius, but the house where he dwelt, which belonged 
to Simon the tanner, and was situated near the sea. It 
is worthy of remark that the Holy Scriptures often avoid 
the minute description of outward circumstances ; for 
instance, with regard to the place where the Apostles 
were assembled at the pouring out of the Holy Ghost ; 
and also that they, elsewhere, observe the greatest ex- 
-actness, as in the present history. 

Here we cannot fail to know how the occurrence 
happened, for we have the speech of the angel given 
word for word by the Evangelist, and again by Corne- 


32 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


hus (verse 30th.) Is not this another proof of the 

friendly interest taken by heavenly beings in each indi- 

vidual? Every one acquainted with the gospel knows 

that Simon the tanner was named by the angel along 
with the Apostle Peter. We may here say, ‘ As it is 

with God, so it is with his servants.’ The Lord takes 

pleasure in the children of men, and in every child of 
man, whether his station and calling be that of an arti- 

san and tanner, or of an apostle and messenger of light. 
‘ Have we not all one father, and hath not one God 
created us? are the words of the prophet Malachi, 
showing thereby the dignity of men, through their des- 

cent from the one whom God created in his own image. 
But how highly is our humanity exalted through the 
new covenant, in which the Son of God became a man, 

—in his glory is still the Son of Man,—and as the Son 
of Man will come again to judgment! As each one 
becomes sanctified by the washing of regeneration, and 
is received into his covenant by the triune God, as each 
partakes of the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the 
Lord’s Supper, the seal and token of this covenant, and 
as each soul is saved from death, there is rejoicing im 

heaven ! 

O comforting and blessed covenant, which unites so 
closely our poor earthly Bethlehem, and its sinful in- 
habitants, with the heavenly Jerusalem and its angels! 
Blessed are they whose names are inscribed above ! 
Amen. 


CHAPTER III. 
THE VISION OF PETER. 


‘A MAN can receive nothing except it be given him 
from heaven.’ John ii. 27. These are the words of 
John the Baptist, in speaking of his divine calling, and 
the power with which God had invested him to an- 
nounce the kingdom of Christ. ‘Every good gift and 
every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from 
the Father of lights.” Jamesi. 17. This truth is so 
palpable that it appears almost unnecessary to state it, 
were it not that, from its very obviousness, we are in- 
clined to overlook it. As a single seed of corn cannot 
unfold itself into the stalk and ear without the quicken- 
ing influence and care of God, so the immortal seed, 
through which we become ‘ the first fruits of his crea- 
tures,’ must be vivified by the Almighty ! 

We do not see this influence descend from above ; 
we cannot distinguish it in the gradual development of 
the stalk and flower, even though, with the rapidity of 
Jonah’s gourd, it spring up in a single night,—we only 
observe the unfolding after it is completed. We see 

the rose blown, but not the act of blossoming; it al- 
most appears to make and form itself; but how can we 
doubt the care of an Almighty hand, or the wafting 
around it of an invisible breath 2? Wedo not doubt it, 
for the natural language of every heart is, “ All depends 


34 CORNELIUS TIE. CENTURION. 


on God’s blessing,” thus uttering a truth implanted in 
every mind, but especially with regard to our spiritual 
life, which may be compared to the field that God 
cultivates. All depends on his influence and blessing, 
without which we can do nothing. ‘ Not that we are 
sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, 
but our sufficiency is of God,’ 2 Cor. 1.5. How could 
we come to God if God had not first come to us, and 
enlightened us by his presence! He must bless our la- 
bor, and work in us both to will and todo. This work 
of God in usis a mystery, yet not altogether incompre- 
hensible ; it is like the visible and palpable influence of 
the sun upon us and our earth ; for the truth of the one 
can be as little doubted by a reasonable being as the 
existence of the other; in both cases experience is an 
infallible teacher. 7 

In order to exhibit this truth to our faith, the Holy 
Scriptures set: before us a visible example of the in- 
visible influence of God, and of the descent of his Holy 
Spirit upon our spirits. We may also be assured from 
our history, that if we seek the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness, all er that we need shall be added 
unto us. 


‘‘ Qn the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew 
nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the house-top to 
pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry, 
and would have eaten; but, while they made ready, he fell 
into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel 
descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at 
the four corners,and let down to the earth ; wherein were all 


THE VISION OF PETER. — 35 


manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and 
creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a 
voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. But Petersaid, Not 
so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common 
or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second 

- ‘time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 
This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again 
into heaven.”—Acts x. 9—16. 


Tuts section of the chapter appears at first sight dark 
difficult, and not well adapted to general edification ; 
but on examining it more minutely, we perceive in it 
the commencement of an unspeakable blessing to the 
human race. Like the rest of the Scriptures, it should 
be profitable ‘for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
for instruction in righteousness,’ 2 Tim. ii. 16. 

We see here also a manifestation from the invisible 
world,—the beginning of a new creation and a great’ 
work of God; and if enlightened by his Holy Spirit, we 
shall observe in it another instance of his grace, his 
glory and his truth. 

The history has hitherto made us acquainted with 
the disposition and character of the Centurion Corne- 
lius. After he had been led by heavenly guidance to 
the knowledge of the one true God, and of his own sin- 
fulness, he was filled with a desire of a nearer fellow- 
ship with Him, and. sought after the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness. Although a Gentile according 
tothe flesh, and thereby shut out from the house of Is- 
rael, ‘to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, 
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the 
service of God, and the promises,’ Rom. ix. 4, yet he 


36 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


was a true Israelite without guile, according to the 
spirit ;—and in fasting, praying and giving alms, had 
acted like one, as far as Gentile could. The grace of 
God now came nigh unto him, and for the strengthening 
of his faith and hope, the Almighty informed him by a 
_ heavenly messenger, what he was next to do,—human 
means were to be employed ;—he must send to Joppa, 
to invite the Apostle Peter to come unto him; he it was 
that should tell him what he ought to do. The merci- 
ful God deals humanly with the children of men; how 
should it be otherwise, since he created man anid con- 
stituted human nature as it is. A gardener acquaints 
himself with the nature and character of the. plants 
which he wishes to cultivate, and suits his care to its 
necessities ; so God, in his grace, adapts himself to the 
peculiar habits and wants of men, and deals humanly 
with human nature. To keep up this comparison, the 
natural root of the spiritual life of man lies already in 
his seeing and hearing. ‘ Blessed are the eyes which 
see whatye see.’ The heavenly gardener descends up- 
on the root of the soul’s life, and tends and nourishes it, 
in order that it may grow up into a heavenly plant. | 
The shepherds at Bethlehem received the announce- 
ment of the birth of our Lord, by means of their bodily 
sight and hearing ; so did Simeon and the wise men of 
the East. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip also to Nathan-, 
iel. He who had not seen the Lord could not be an 
Apostle,—his resurrection and his ascension into hea- 
ven, happened visibly ; and John, in the commence- 
ment of his epistle, lays great weight upon the fact, that 
he and the other disciples had seen with their eyes, 


THE VISION OF PETER. 37 


looked upon, and with their hands had handled the 
Word of Life. This beholding through the external 
senses, on the part of those disciples whom the Lord 
had chosen, was the beginning and germ of a spirit- 
ual acquaintance; on which account, those alone who 
had at an early period believed upon him, were esteem- 
ed worthy of seeing and conversing with him after his 
-resurrection. The grace of God always influences us by 
degrees; every thing upon earth unfolds itself in the 
same manner, and even the formation of the world, 
and filling it with plants, animals, and men, took place 
- gradually, and step by step. As the kingdom of heaven 
upon earth, grew up like a plant, and like a seed of corn, 
brought forth first the blade, then the stalk, and then the 
ear—so must it be gradually formed in the heart of man. 
That which is divine, is transfused into rhan, and God 
makes use of him as a fellow worker with himself, to 
spread abroad histruth. As Cornelius sent his servants 
to Joppa, so the Lord sent his servant Peter to Cesarea, 
in order to open the eyes of Cornelius, and lead him to 
the kingdom of heaven. How gracious is our God and 
Savior in his treatment of the human race, and how 
dear unto. the Lord are his people. An extraordinary 
preparation was required, and it was necessary that Pe- 
ter should be instructed in a peculiar manner. Though 
God employs men in the execution of his commands 
and decrees, he never uses them like mere machines, 
nor does he, by force, drive his people along the right 
path; on the contrary, they must act and work along 
with him of their own free will, and from their own 
knowledge and conviction. 
4 


38 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


‘The nearer man stands to God, the more spontane- 
ous is his service, and the further he is removed from 
him, the more must he, like Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, 
and Joseph’s brethren, be used by his heavenly Father, 
as a mere instrument, held in the bonds of darkness. 
‘If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be 
free indeed.’ John vii. 36. Simon Peter was chosen to 
open the door of the Great Shepherd’s fold ‘to the first 
Gentile and his household, and to lead them into it. 
Why was it Peter? Why was it not John or James ? 
or Philip, who had already preached the gospel, and ~ 
converted many in the neighboring Samaria, and of 
whom Cornelius had probably heard ? Why was it not 
delayed till the conversion of Paul, the peculiar Apostle 
of the Gentiles ? The answer is contained in our histo- 
ry. Peter was chosen to begin the work of converting 
the Gentiles, because he was the most opposed to God’s 
universal grace, in willing the conversion of the Gen- 
tiles; it was therefore the more clearly proved to be 
the design and the work of God. The bondage of Is- 
rael in Egypt was loosed by Moses, and the kingdom of 
God was spread farthest by the persecuting Saul, both 
of them by nature and education the most unlikely to 
perform such glorious works. ‘Base things of the 
world, and things that are despised, hath God chosen, 
yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things 
that are; ‘that no flesh should glory in his presence.’-— 
1 Cor. 1. 28, 29. 

The gospel history has depicted soitho eficlinr truth 
and openness, the natural disposition and character of 
the Apostle Simon Peter. The Lord had given him — 


THE VISION OF PETER. 39 


the significant surname of Cephas, or Peter, that is to 
say, a rock, or a man of rock, not merely in reference 
to what he should become, but also to that which he 
was by nature. As the natural talents and dispositions 
of men are very different, one excelling or falling short 
of another in understanding, imagination, or memory, 
so Simon Peter was distinguished from the rest of our 
Lord’s followers, by an impetuosity of temper which ~ 
seems to have been born with him. This, like the 
other powers of the soul weakened by sin, as long as 
man is not regenerated by the Holy Spirit, is apt to de- 
generate into caprice, conceit, or self-will ; and shows 
itself by obstinately holding fast any opinion which the 
mind has once embraced. | 

None of the disciples gainsaid our Lord so often as 
Simon Peter. When Jesus told them of his approach- 
ing sufferings, he was the person who drew him. aside 
and said, ‘ Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be 
unto thee’—on which he received the answer, ‘ Get 
thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me, 
for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but 
those that be of men.’ When Jesus washed the disci- 
ples’ feet, Peter withstood him, from a false humility 
and mistaken respect, until our Lord said to him, ‘ If I 
wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.’, And how 
strongly did his self-confidence contrast with the words 
of our Lord, warning him of his future denial! In his 
fall also, in spite of his better judgment and conviction, 
he showed a stubborn obstinacy, which rose even to 
curses and imprecations. This rebellious, yet despond- 
ing heart of rock, became softened under the guidance, 


40 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


and through the influence of its gentle and lowly 
Master, and the confidence in its own strength disap- 
peared before the power of the Highest. The Holy 
Spirit did not change the Apostles so much as to de- 
stroy, or take away, the peculiarities of their disposi- 
tions and character, or their human weakness and pre- 
judice,—they certainly received through his agency, 
the full mercy and grace of God, but His gifts and his 
Spirit must daily increase, and ever more and more 
consume the innate dross of their minds. They must. 
strive to approach perfection, and strain every nerve 
to lay hold on Christ, to fight the good fight, and run 
along the appointed path, in order to obtain the crown. 
St. Peter, who was dear unto our Lord, did this during 
his whole life, in order to come forth as victor in the 
conflict with the powers of darkness, and with his own 
innate corruption. 

This struggle ended only with his crucifixion, of 
which our Lord prophesied to him, when he said, 
‘ Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall 
gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.’— 
John xxi. 18. He also subjected himself in Antioch to 
the severe and righteous reproof of the Apostle Paul, 
because he dissembled with the Jews, when, to please 
them, he once more came under the bondage of the 
Levitical law, to the offence of the Gentile church. 
Thus, his natural man, and human will, came into col- 
lision with the new-born spiritual man, and. with the 
will of the Lord. The Bible has never been silent 
with regard to the human weakness and errors of its 
heroes, that we might see how difficult it is to extin- 


THE VISION OF PETER. ~~ 41 


guish entirely the old man, which is always returning : 
and also to show us that we should not despair of at- 
taining that object, by a persevering conflict, and 
through the assistance of the Holy Spirit. 

_ It appears to have been particularly difficult for the 
Apostle to comprehend the counsel of God, with regard 
to the calling and blessing of the Gentiles. The pre- 
judice in favor of his own nation, as the peculiar peo- 
ple of Jehovah, which he had imbibed with his mother’s 
milk, still clung fast to his soul; though he had an- 
nounced, at the feast of Pentecost, that the Lord was 
about to call into his fold, those who were still afar off, 
yet he did not say this from himself, but from the Spirit 
of the Lord. 

The time and the hour, the grand moment of the 
second birth of the world, was now come. Our Lord 
had often alluded to it before, and once distinctly said, — 
‘ Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them 
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and 
there shall be one fold and one shepherd.’ On another 
occasion, he praised and rewarded the faith both of a 
Canaanitish woman and a Gentile Centurion. 

He has also commanded his Apostles, in the most 
decided and definite manner, to go to all nations and 
preach the Gospel to every creature. God had willed 
that his kingdom, as one not of this world, should be 
spread abroad, not by force or constraint, but through 
knowledge of the truth, and internal conviction, both 
by those who announced it and those who received it. 
The Gospel, as a power from God, should be not 
merely a precept, but a living principle to all who re- 

* 


42 ' CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


ceive it—to form in them a new life, which, through 
the light and grace of God, may unfold-and increase 
like a plant in a good soil, ‘ until they all come, in the 
unity of the Father, and of the knowledge of the Son 
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ.’ Eph. iv. 13. 

Peter, who found it so difficult to wean himself from 
the old covenant and conform to the new, and to whom 
our Lord had promised, that he should give him the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and that on him he 
should build his church; he it was who should begin 
the great work of God among the Gentiles. The be- 
ginning, however, must first be made in himself—for 
how can one be what he is not, or give what he has 
not? A reformation must take place, which was done 
by means of a manifestation from heaven, and through 
"a vision. | 

Peter went up, about the sixth hour, or, according to 
our reckoning, at mid-day, to pray, on the house-top, or 
flat roof of the house. The Jews were fond of praying ~ 
on the house-top, under the open heaven, because they 
were here undisturbed, and could turn their face during 
prayer, towards the Temple and the holy city of Jeru- 
salem. In this circumstance, we may perceive how 
Peter continued faithfully to observe the rules and cus- 
toms of Judaism ; little aware that they were soon to 
cease, and give place to the worshiping of God in 
Spirit and in truth.* After he had finished his prayer, 
‘he became very hungry, and would have eaten,’—but 
he must now be fed with other food—there was open- 


* See Note D. r 


THE VISION OF PETER. | 43 


ed to him, as before to our Lord, while his disciples 
were bringing him food in Samaria,—a wide field, 
ripe for the harvest, and he, as the first reaper, began 
the work. 

He was entranced, that is to say, transported out of 
his natural state into a higher and supernatural one ; 
his outward senses were closed, but the eyes of his 
inner man were opened, that he might behold heavenly 
things.* ‘ He saw heaven opened, and a certain ves- 
sel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet 
knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth, 
wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the 
earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls 
of the air. And there came a voice to him,—Rise, 
Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, not so, Lord, for I 
have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 
And the voice spake unto him again, the second time. 
— What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.’ 
This was done thrice, to strengthen the impression of 
the Divine testimony ; and the vessel was then receiv- 
ed up again into heaven, to show that it was a Divine 
manifestation. In this vision we behold the conde- 
scension of our Lord to his beloved Apostle, in now 
making known to him the secrets of God, in the same 
manner as he used to do to his disciples, by means of 
parables and allegories. The whole of revelation is a 
letting down, and, if we may so call it, a humanization 
of the invisible God; through it alone can man come 
to his heavenly Father and become His child. Almost 
all the Old Testament consists of types and similitudes 


* See Note E. 


44 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


The sacrifices and ceremonies, the tabernacle and the 
temple, the people of Israel and their history, Canaan 
with its warriors and its very names, wereall images 
and pictures of what was to come,—glimmerings of a 
yet concealed light and future blessing, the elements of 
the true life which is in Christ Jesus. We may well 
admire it. Even in this day of light, since the coming 
of the Son of God, we see through a glass darkly the 
secrets of the future and perfected kingdom of heaven ; 
yet the time shall come when we shall see them face 
to face, and know even as also we are known. Thus 
the Apostle Peter, like all the prophets who were be- 
fore him, was led to a higher knowledge gradually, 
and step by step. We see also in this vision, that 
something entirely new was about to begin in the king- 
dom of God upon earth. The prophets had, for ages, 
foretold it ; and our Lord himself had ordained and pre- 
dicted it; but the contracted view of the. disciples 
could not distinguish it ; therefore the thing itself was 
done, and they were led to comprehend it slowly and 
gradually. The lightning’s flash destroys the aged 
tree; but the gentle day-light developes a new_life out 
of what seems past away and decayed. This new 
light removed the old economy and covenant which 
God had established during more than fifteen hundred 
years, by laws and precepts, priests and prophets :— 
it was also the declaration of a new covenant, by which 
all the Gentiles, without the law, were led into the path 
of grace. This decree of God, the fulfilment of which 
Peter was to begin, was disclosed to the Apostle visibly, 
though mysteriously. God has always connected the 


THE VISION OF PETER. 45 


visible world with the invisible, in his manifestations 
to men,—and even in the pouring out of the Holy 
Ghost. He had commanded, through Moses, the dis- 
tinction of animals into the clean and the unclean; 
into those which might be eaten and sacrificed, and 
those which might not. By this law He had typified 
the separation of the people of Israel from those na- 
tions who were stained with idolatry; Psalm Ixxx. 
thus compares the heathen to the wild beast of the 
field. . 

The time of distinction and separation was now to 
cease. Paul says in Ephesians ii. 13, 14, 15, 16, ‘Ye 
who were sometimes far off, are made nigh by the ‘blood 
of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one, 
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition be- 
tween us. Having abolished, in his flesh, the enmity, 
even the law of commandments contained in ordinan- 
ces; for to make in-himself of twain one new man, so 
making peace. And that he might reconcile both unto 
God, in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity 
thereby.’ Through him both Jew and Greek have ac- 
cess, by one spirit, unto the Father. 

‘ Kill and eat, said the voice; the same which com- 
manded Isaiah to write, ‘They shall bring an offering 
unto the Lord out of all nations,’ chap. Ixvi.—the same 
which inspired Paul to say in Romans, chap. xv. ‘ That 
the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, 
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.’ The sanctifica- 
tion of the Gentiles has been going on, even to the pre- 
sent day, and will continue to go on until all be fulfilled 
which God has promised through the mouth of His ho- 


46 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


ly prophets. The beginning of this great work of God 
has been made ; it now becomes us, as brethren in the 
truth, to forward its progress by our labors and prayers, 
that His kingdom may come, ever more and more, and 
His will be done on earth as it isin heaven. We have 
visions and words from heaven no longer ; we have both 
in our Bible; nor is there ever wanting a manifesta- 
tion of the mind of God in the daily occurrences around 
‘us, in the providential events of life: and, above all, in 
the secret history of our souls; thus beholding God in | 
every thing, what is in itself common and unclean be- 
comes purified and sanctified ; and in this way is the 
grace of God revealed to all men. 


CHAPTER TV. 
THE ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS OF CORNELIUS AT JOPPA. 


Ir is a remark of Luther, the father of our church,: 
that the history of the people of God differs as much 
from the histories and biographies of men, as heaven 
does from earth. In profane history one may see the 
greatness or the littleness of the work ; but in this nar- 
ration there is only one thing to admire and honor, 
namely, the word of God, through whose will and gui- 
dance all things are accomplished. The histories of the 
Bible are, with justice, called holy, not only because 
they are written by holy men, but because they are the 
words of God, and we must observe this particularly in 
order to understand what a great treasure the Evange- 
list Luke has left us, in his Acts of the Apostles. They 
are not so much histories by the Apostle, as the very 
words of God, telling how the Gospel, by means of 
those whom he had sent, began to make its way 
through the whole world, and through faith on the part 
of mankind, justified and blessed them without law. In 
this book we find the doctrine and the example of faith 
side by side, and we see at the same time the human sym- 
pathy and condescension of God our Savior, awakening 
a new life in the hearts of men. How gently and ten- 
derly did he receive into his fold those who sought ad- 
mittance, sending to them his faithful servants and mes- 


48 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


sengers! fulfilling to his chosen ones the gracious prom- 
ise : ‘ Even to your old age Iam He; and even tohoar 
hairs willl carry you; I have made ‘and I will bear ; 
even I will carry and will deliver you.” Isaiah xlvi. 4. 





‘ Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which 

*. he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent 
from Comelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and 
stood before the gate, and called, and asked whether Simon, 
which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Pe- 
ter thought on the vison, the Spirit said unto him, behold, 
three men seek thee; arise, therefore, and get thee down, 
and go ‘with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them, 
Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto 
him from Cornelius, and said, behold Iam he whom ye 
seek ; what is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they 
said, Cornelius the Centurion, a just man, and one that fear- 
eth God, and of good report among all the nation of the 
Jews, was warned from God, by an holy angel, to send for 
thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. Then call- 
ed he them in and lodged them’.—Acts x. 17—23. 


In the last section of our history, we saw how the 
decrees and secret counsels of God, for calling in the 
Gentiles, and blessing the whole human. race, by the 
Gospel, were revealed to the Apostle Peter in a vision 
from above, and how this work of mercy, this new crea- 
tion, like the creation of the first man, when it was 
said, ‘ Letus make man in our image,’ began in heaven 
above, in order to be perfected in earth among the chil- 
dren. of men. : 

We have now to consider this beginning and pro- 
gress of the divine work upon earth. 


ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS. 49 


' ¢ Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he 
had seen should mean.’—He found himself in uncertain- 
ty with regard to its signification, it was a visible and 
allegorical representation or type of a change about to 
take place through the instrumentality of Peter. The 
time that is to come is present before God as well as 
that which is past. With him there is neither yester- 
day, to-day, nor to-morrow ; a thousand years, whether 
past or future, are but as one day before him. ‘Surely 
the Lord will do nothing,’ saith Amos, ‘ but he reveal- 
eth his secret unto his servants the prophets.’ And it is 
on this account they were named Seers, or those that 
see, because they came forth as the prophets or speak- 
ers of God. | 

He let them see that which was hidden from the eyes 
of men, and concealed in his tabernacle. Yet the glory 
of God seldom manifests itself without some obscurity 
along with it—it cannot be otherwise, when we consid- 
er our weak nature, unable to comprehend the things 
that are of the Spirit of God, or contemplate the depth 

of the thoughts and the mysteries of our Creator! ‘O 
Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are 
very deep!’ ‘They are high as heaven,’ and ‘ deeper 
than hell,’—deep and encircling every thing like the 
sea. How simple and great, and at the same time how 
deep and comprehensive, is Jacob’s vision of the heav- 
enly ladder, which reached from earth up to heaven, © 
and on beholding which the Patriarch cried out, ‘ How 
dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house 
of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ It was the 
earthly Canaan, and the temporal Zion, the road 


5O CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


to the heavenly Jerusalem. Here was the place 
where the Son of God, the Light and Life of the world, 
came down upon earth, ‘ when the angels of God were 
ascending and descending upon him.’ John i. 51. How 
glorious, yet how simple were the manifestation which 
took place to Ehas on Mount Horeb, when first the 
storm which tore the rocks asunder, then the earth- 
quake and the fiery flames passed before the Lord, and 
when He himself came at last in the soft breeze, making 
known to the zealous prophet in this manner the mode 
of his own government of the world, and the way in 
which his servant was to act. The visions by which 
God, in the time of the new covenant, disclosed his 
counsels, are more simple and less veiled, than those 
of the old; they resemble in clearness and simplicity 
the parables of Jesus Christ. The vision of Peter re- 
minds us of the net full of every kind of fishes, to which 
our Lord compared his kingdom upon earth; and the 
sheet let down from heaven filled with every kind of. 
beasts, indicated the mighty preparation making by 
God, ‘that he might gather together in one, all things 
in Christ, both Sihiich are in heaven, and which are on 
earth, even in him.’ Eph. i. 10. 

‘Peter doubted in himself, what this vision which he 
had seen, should mean.’ He certainly recognised it as a 
revelation from God ; but he did not discover its signifi- 
cation. There was something within him which ob- 
scured the light of God, and withstood his full acknow- 
ledgement of the truth, exactly in the same manner as 
formerly, at the washing of the disciples’ feet. He 
displayed in 2 this his prejudices as an individual Jew, 


ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS. lS 


and his zeal for the pre-eminence of his nation, which 
had been nourished in him from his childhood. He 
held fast his human views of the mercy of God, which 
were still narrowed and contracted by his regard for 
the law. But we must on no account compare the 
doubting and deliberating Apostle with those rational- 
ists, who blinded by pride and selfishness, oppose human 
wisdom to divine revelation, as if they were of equal 
authority, while their true reason is an unwillingness to 
obey the commands of God, and embrace the only be- 
lief which unravels the stupendous mystery of the hu- 
man mind. No! Peter did not think here on what is 
human—but the divine manifestations and the law of 
the old covenant, rose in all their majesty before his 
soul, so that he could not discern in its full clearness, 
God’s comprehensive mercy and blessing for all men. 
Indeed, this would have been nothing less than to under- 
stand the length and the breadth, the depth and the 
height, of the unsearchable riches of Christ, whereby 
all things were to be made new. 

The prophets had foretold this new dispensation, and » 
Peter himself, moved by the Holy Ghost, had spoken of 
it on the day of Pentecost; but, like the disciples of our 
Lord, who, notwithstanding his prediction, would not 
believe in his resurrection until it had happened, Peter 
could not comprehend until now, that he was to become 
light and life unto the Gentiles. Even the Apostles in 
themselves bear testimony to our frail humanity! Peter 
was a regenerated child of the Spirit, and a true disci- 
ple of our Lord; but the measure of the stature of the 
- fulness of Christ was not yet perfectedin him. Eternal 


52 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


life, or the knowledge of the one true God, and of 
Jesus Christ whom he has sent, can only unfold itself 
by degrees, and by continued repentance and faith. It 
was so with Peter; the veil of Moses was not quite 
taken away from his eyes, and it must not be torn forci- 
bly away because he was a faithful disciple of the 
Lord, and a true child of God. A dazzling and blind- 
ing beam of light from heaven, was not necessary for 
him, as it was for the rebellious and threatening Saul, 
the scholar of the Pharisees; all that was required was 
a parable from above, in which the light should be en- 
veloped. As the germinating seed of corn penetrates 
the hard soil, in order to come at the light which ani- 
mates it; so there was in Peter a feeling of anxiety, a 
doubt and a desire to know, what the vision meant that 
he had seen. 3 

While he was revolving in his mind what had taken 
place, ‘ behold the men which were sent from Cornelius, 
had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stoct before the 
gate; and asked whether Simon, which was surninned 
Peter, lodged there.’ 

In the Scriptures, but particularly in the simple nar- 
ratives of the Evangelists, theré is not even one little 
word like ‘ Behold’ put in vain; on the contrary all is 
important. These men, the two servants and the sol- 
dier, without their own will or knowledge, were the 
instruments, in the hand of God, to lead the Apostle to 
a higher step in faith, and to a higher life. They came 
and asked for Peter at a most appropriate time, for he 
was troubled, and his mind was tossed to and fro; in 
the common language of life we would say, they arrived 


ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS. 53 


then by chance. But this expression has a very differ- 
ent meaning in the mouth of our Lord, when he says; 
that not even a sparrow shall fall to the ground, with- 
out the knowledge of our Father which is in. heaven, 
for the very hairs of our head are numbered. ‘By 
chance,’ either signifies having no connection with any 
thing else, and then the word expresses nothing ; or 
else it means, having an invisible connection with that 
which is above, from whence comes down every good 
and perfect gift—grass and foliage, rain and drought, 
fruitful and unfruitful years, health and sickness,—not 
by chance, but from the hand of our Father. Christians 
know no other chance than this! 

The three men came.—The Lord has many different 
kinds of servants and messengers in his kingdom ; but 
he generally makes use of the meanest, the most natu- 
ral, and the least conspicuous: for example, Abraham, 
Joseph in Egypt, and David, whom he called from 
amongst the sheep. He chose most of his Apostles out 
of Galilee, from amidst the fishing nets, and transformed 
them into fishers of men, and angels to his people; and 
the conversion of Samaria began with a woman, by 
means of a pitcher of water at Jacob’s well. 

Why should we, in the foolish manner of men, place 
in opposition to each other those words, but imperfect- 
ly understood, natural and supernatural? They both 
mean the same thing in the kingdom of God—that 
He, from whom, to whom, and by whom all things are, 
sends rain and snow, as well as the word which issues 
forth out of his mouth—makes his angels, winds, and 
his ministers, a flaming fire; and transforms fiery 

5* 


54 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


flames into his servants, and storms into his messen- 
gers. 

Here are two Gentile servants, and a Roman soldier, 
sent to an enlightened Apostle to solve his doubts, and 
disclose to him the path in which he should walk; God in 
this, acting simply and employing no extraordinary per- 
son. It has often happened thus in the life of believers ; 
the smallest circumstance, or what in the language of 
men would be called a mere accident, first opens their 
eyes and their hearts to a new light and life. In the 
same manner, many of the actions of the Son of God 
upon earth, such as his first interviews with those who — 
in him were to find salvation, and even the choice of 
most of his Apostles, appear to us like a work of chance. 
Why should the blind Bartimeus sit by the way-side, 
and Matthew at the receipt of custom, while the Lord 
passed by? and why should the Samaritan woman 
come to Jacob’s well while Jesus was sitting there 
waiting for his disciples? Alas! heathenism still lurks 
in our language, and since the manifestation of the 
grace of God, the world continues to act on its own 
principles. 

The arrival of the three men soon seat: an end to the 
doubts and deliberations of the Apostles: they called his 
name: he saw them from the roof of the house; they 
seemed almost a continuation of the vision he had seen. 
Then spake the Spurit unto him. What Spirit? The 
Spirit which our Lord had promised to his disciples 
should come to them in his place, the Spirit of wisdom 
and revelation in the knowledge of God; the invisible 
representative of our Lord, who now guided the Apos- 


ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS. 55 


tles, as Christ had formerly guided them ; the same said 
unto Peter,‘ Behold three men seek thee. Arise, there- 
fore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting 
nothing, for I have sent them.’ This was a repetition 
of Christ’s command, after his resurrection! ‘ Feed my 
lambs! Feed my sheep.’ What an important and 
what a solemn charge, to become the messenger of the 
Gospel—to announce the words of peace and joy to 
souls desirous of salvation ! ‘ How beautiful are the feet 
of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad 
tidings of good things?’ Romans x. 15. God has ap- 
pointed this office of preaching reconciliation with him- 
self; and the Holy Spirit which bears witness in our 
spirit, can alone qualify men for it. In the simple 
words which the Apostle hears, there is implied the 
whole use and object of this office. | 
‘ Behold three men seek thee ;—they long for thee, 
and to hear thy words, as being a chosen witness of the 
truth. Thou art appointed to help the afflicted, and 
calm the troubled hearts of those who seek after the 
freedom of the children of God. ‘ Arise, therefore !’ 
Now that thou art ready to spread the Gospel, arise for 
the service of God; Christ will enlighten thee, that 
thou mayst enlighten others, and deliver them from the 
bondage of darkness. ‘ Get thee down’ unto them ; and 
make known the light of truth, and the word of life, 
unto the weary and heavy laden; the crushed and 
bruised heart, the glimmering taper, and the broken 
reed. Now must thou, with the balm of Gilead with 
which thou hast been entrusted, alleviate pain, help 
_ and soothe, bind up and heal. ‘Go with them!’ use 


56 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


for them the gifts which thou hast already received ; 
offer them thy life and all that thou hast, as thy Lord 
and Master has done for thee. Go with them, like 
Moses formerly with the Israelites, through the wastes 
of sin and death, towards the heavenly Canaan, to the 
treasure which is preserved for us through Jesus Christ 
in the heavenly Jerusalem. Go with them through the 
straight gate, on the narrow path, which leads to the 
crown of life and to immortality. ‘ Doubting nothing.’ 
A doubter is unsteady in his character, ‘like a wave of 
the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not 
that man think that he shall receive any thing of the 
Lord.’ Jamesi. 6,7. Doubt nothing, fear nothing, but 
believe only. Doubtnothing, although they mock thee, 
and laugh at thy words, and drive thee from city to 
city. Doubt nothing, even though thou seemest to work 
in vain, and though not even one little seed of corn 
spring up into the green stalk. Doubt nothing, only 
believe. Itis faith which overcometh the world. 

Thus, in those words, which told the Apostle what 
he ought to do, there is contained the whole duty of a 
preacher of the gospel. How great and important is 
the aim and the labor of that man who is called to be 
a messenger of God, to prepare the way before him in 
the hearts of those for whom he suffered death on the | 
cross. That Spirit alone which called and sent him, 
can give him strength and ability for his vocation. — 

How comforting then is the promise,‘ If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your Father which is in 
heaven give good things to them that ask him.! Matt. 
vu. 11. | 


ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS. 57 


‘Then Peter went down to the men which were sent 
unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold I am he 
whom ye seek: and what is the cause wherefore ye are 
come? And they said, Cornelius the Centurion, a just ~ 
man, and one that feareth God, and of good report 
among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from 
God by an holy Angel to send for thee into has house, 
and to hear words of thee.’—Words, says the Apostle 
himself in the next chapter, ‘ whereby thou and all 
thy house shall be saved.’ After Peter had heard the 
request of the men, ‘ he called them in and lodged them.’ 
They had executed their commission before entering 
the house of Simon the tanner. Probably they had re- 
mained without from modesty; for it was a Jewish 
house, and they were Gentiles, whom the Jews at that 
time disliked to come into their dwellings, lest they 
should defile them. 

Thus the Jews, from whom was to come salvation 
unto all, in their proud dream that they were the noble 
among men, raised higher than ever the wall of parti- 
tion as the times of the Gentiles approached. 

‘ Peter called them in and lodged them, ready to 
gratify their wish, and journey with then the next day. 
Thus was the compact concluded, and a desire to know 
the word of God united those men, who — now had 
stood far apart. 

The great object of the Gospel, is the itineGee to- 
gether of all men into one congregation of the Lord, 
under one head, Jesus Christ, and into one great family 
and household of God the Father,—in one Spirit, 
through the bond of peace and love,—a union of all 


58 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


that dwell upon earth, so that every knee should bow 
to the name of Jesus, and every tongue acknowledge — 
that God the Lord is the only true God ! 

It was for this purpose Jesus Christ, the Word, 
which was from the beginning, came down from heaven, 
divested himself of the form of God, became flesh, and 
dwelt among us ; for this purpose he was exalted, and a 
name given unto him which is above everyname. There- 
fore did the Holy Spirit fill the Apostles with power 
from the Highest, and all the fulness of God, and is ever 
laboring that the time of rest may come. Therefore, 
the heavenly’ messengers of God minister unto those 
who shall be heirs of salvation. Therefore shall the 
Gospel be preached, even unto the ends ofthe earth, 
and the word of God makes its way round the world, 
so that there shall be no speech nor language, where 
its sound shall not be heard. To this great union also 
do Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, those visible seals 
of the eternal covenant, direct our eyes; and, O high- 
est of all honors, it is the duty of all Christians, as breth- 
~ ren in one faith, to labor and pray that the name of God 
may be sanctified, his kingdom come, and his will be 
done in earth, as it is in heaven. 


CHAPTER V. 


THE MEETING OF PETER AND CORNELIUS. 


‘Tue Sabbath was made for man, not man for the 
Sabbath.’—As the Gospel is more glorious than the 
law, the festival of the new covenant is more so than 
the Sabbath of the old. The Sabbath of the law con- 
cluded the week, and followed the days of labor; it 
was a ray of mercy from above upon sinful men, after 
the six week-days of pain and toil--and a consoling 
promise, ‘ that there remained a rest for the people of 
God. Our Gospel day of rest precedes our week-days, 
as the day of reconciliation and of the righteousness and 
peace purchased for us. It is the resurrection day of _ 
our Lord and Savior, the pledge of our own resurrec- 
tion ; and the seal of our perfect redemption. In it we 
solemnize a weekly feast of Easter, a heavenly family- 
day, and assemble in the house of God, not as ‘ stran- 
gers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, 
and of the household of God.’ This day teaches us our 
intimate connection with each other, and our fellow- 
ship with the saints above, being all members of one 
body, of which Christ is the head, who is the way, the 
truth, and the life, through whom alone we come to the 
Father. Therefore, we offer up prayer unto the Lord, 
and praise him with spiritual songs. He is in the midst 
of us, and causes us to receive his Gospel. God made | 


60 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


the Sabbath for man, whom he created in his own 
image; and through his Gospel he has exalted it into a 
Sun-day, or day of Suns, on which the Sun of Righteous- 
ness shines upon all with healing in his wings. 

The following verses set before us a picture of such 
an assemblage, the first that met together in a Gentile 
house. 





‘ And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain 
brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the morrow 
after they entered into Cesarea. And Cornelius waited for 
them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. 

' And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell 
down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Petertook him 
up, saying, stand up: I myselfalsoam aman. And as he 
talked with him, he went in, and found many that were 
come together. And he said unto them, Ye know how that 
it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep com- 
pany, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath 
shewed me thatI should not call any man common or un- 
clean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, so 
soon as I was sent for; I ask therefore for what intent. ye 
have sent for me? And Cornelius said, Four days ago I 
was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed 
in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright 
clothing, and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and’thine 
alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send, 
therefore, to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname 
is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner, 
by the seaside, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto 
thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee ; and thou hast 
well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all 
here present before God, to hear all things that are com- 

manded thee of God.’—Acts x. 23—33. 


HIS MEETING WITH PETER. 61 


Here we have the much desired arrival of the Apos- 
tle Peter in the house of Cornelius at Cesarea, on the 
fourth day after the latter had received the command 
of the angel to send to Joppa. The messengers had 
arrived there on the first day; Peter lodged them all 
night, and set out with them on the morrow, accompa- 
nied by six other brethren, believers of the Jewish na- 
tion. They arrived on the fourth day, and were re- 
ceived with great joy. The history of this reception 
merits our attention. We see in the Centurion, and 
those who were assembled for a similar purpose as him- 
self, a little community seeking peace andtruth. Gen- 
tiles by nature, they may well serve as examples to us. 

The two principal persons in our history now meet 
together,—the Roman Centurion and the Apostle of our 
_ Lord. In the first, we see a picture of human nature, 

longing for the freedom of the children of God ; in the 
second, the ambassador of Christ, the Word and Life 
that came down from heaven, through whom alone that 
freedom can be attained. 

Let us direct our attention to Cornelius, and to his 
desire for peace and truth. 

We are acquainted with the Centurion already, and 
know that the solicitude of his heart was to come to 
the knowledge and possession of the truth. He was de- 
vout, and feared God ; the aspirations of his soul were 
directed upwards, and his own desire, as well as that of 
his whole_house, was to be at peace with God and in 
fellowship with his heavenly Father. 

The small seed of the everlasting word, although it 
may be crushed and concealed, lies hid in the inmost 

6 


62 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


heart of every one, and in the very depth of his being. 
The most erring and the most fallen can never entirely 
divest himself of it ;—it is this which constitutes him 
man, and is the indestructible witness that God the Lord 
made him in his own image. Even though the interior 
heht be greatly darkened by the power of Satan, and 

man’s own grovelling desires, yet, beneath this very 

darkness, there is a concealed light; and the most ab-. 

ject superstition which bows the knee to a piece of wood 
or metal, bears witness to a lost faith, long past away, 
and shows an unconscious desire ever seeking after 
truth. As there is no one without a conscience, and no 
mother’s heart without love for her child, so there is no 
man without some kind of religion. The Lord Jesus 
made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, :the dumb to’ 
speak, and even recalled dead bodies into life; so the 
influence of divine light, and the power of the Highest, 

awakens and enlivens the dead word of eternal: life, 

and frees it from the bonds of darkness. os 

When man becomes conscious of the Word, concealed 
in the depths of his soul, and desires help and light from 
heaven, it is the germinating of the hidden seed. 

If man love darkness more than light, he can destroy 
this seed in two ways; either by forsaking spiritual, and 
giving himself up to worldly pleasures, or by dreaming 
that he is partaking of God’s grace, while wandering in 
a path chosen by himself. The heathen did the first, 
when, giving themselves up to the world, they materi- 
alized the glory of the incorruptible God; and, falling 
into deeper and deeper darkness, at last sunk into bru- 
tishness, and the most grovelling idolatry. . For this 


HIS MEETING WITH PETER. 63 


reason Paul began his sermon to the Athenians with the 
announcement of the ‘unknown God.’ The second 
was the manner of the Pharisees, who, wedded to Ju- 
daism, and blinded by their own selfish dreams, imagin- 
ed that through the works of the law, they could ren- 
der themselves acceptable to God, and procure their 
own salvation. From this proceeded their self-right- 
eousness, which opposed the Gospel, and considered all - 
those in darkness who differed from themselves. 

Heathenism had long ceased to obscure the mental 
vision of Cornelius, for light from above had found its 
way into the depths of his heart. He acknowledged 
and reverenced the one true God, and faithfully used 
every means which his acquaintance with the Jews and 
their sacred writings afforded, in order to increase his 
knowledge. Though he and his household were Gen- 
tiles outwardly, yet in spirit and faith they were Jews ; 
and the more they knew God and his revelation, the 
stronger became their desire for His grace and fellow- 
ship. It was not through means chosen by himself that 
he sought to obtain them ; but it was according to the 
law of God, and the custom of Israel, through fasting, 
alms, and prayers. 

This, however, was of no avail, so long as the ap- 
probation and grace of God were wanting. Through 
the law, there is no man righteous before him, ‘ for by 
the law is the knowledge of sin ;? andthe greater man’s 
effort to fulfil it, the more vividly he perceives his dis- 
tance from the true light, in which there is neither sha- 
dow nor darkness. ‘ For by grace are ye saved through 
faith ; and that not of yourselves; it isthe gift of God: 
Not of works, lest any man should boast.’ Eph. u. 8, 9. 


64 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


Cornelius felt this when he longed for the grace and 
the gifts of God ; like the publican in the temple, he 
stood at a distance, under the burden and yoke of the 
law, weary and heavy laden, hungering and thirsting 
for that righteousness which is of great value in the 
sight of God, and sighing for the ee of the chil- 
dren of light. 

His prayers, and his works of mercy, came in re- | 

membrance before God, who now opened the way to 
his grace and fellowship, and commanded Peter to lead 
this stranger into the kingdom of heaven. 
— © And Cornelius waited for them, and had called to- 
gether his kinsmen and near friends.’—Like another 
Simeon, he waited for the consolation of Israel. The 
Holy Spirit had filled Cornelius with confidence that 
his most secret wishes should be gratified, and a faint 
dawn of the light of our Lord had already appeared, 
promising a speedy sunrise. He now asseinbled in his 
house all those relations and friends who lived in a 
similar hope with himself. Hope and joy are sympa- 
thetic, and are always shedding a bright effulgence 
around them, but much more when they are of divine 
origin ; Gospel happiness is the joy of the heavenly 
family, and cannot be confined to one person. 

The friends of Cornelius must not only sympathize 
in his joy, but they must participate in his spiritual 
blessings and heavenly gifts, and be saved by the same 
salvation. We can imagine them watching on the 
house-top, to try if they could discover, in the distance, 
those messengers who were to announce to them peace 
and happiness ! 


HIS MEETING WITH PETER. 65 


‘ As Peter was coming in, Cornélius met him, and 
fell down at his feet and worshiped him.’ The latter 
expression, ‘ worshiped him,’ signifies merely—bowed 
his face to the ground, as Joseph’s brethren did before 
Joseph, and David did before Saul. It was the most 
lowly salutation, and the deepest expression of reve- 
rence; the princes of the East regarded it as their 
right, and required it even from foreign ambassadors ; 
but it was no more worship than our habit of uncover- 
ing the head as a mark of respect. 

That Cornelius, a Roman, should have followed this 
Eastern custom, was a token of his deep veneration for 
the Apostle. Who can condemn him for this? He 
did what his heart prompted, and threw himself on his 
face, for, in the Apostle, he beheld the servant and dis- 
ciple of the Lord, who was to bring him salvation and 
peace, joy and eternal life. It would not have been 
wonderful though he had been unable to distinguish 
between the ambassador and the Lord who had sent 
him, for when he prostrated himself in the dust, his soul 
was overwhelmed with the plenitude of his blessings. 

We must allow that he did rightly, when he threw 
himself at the Apostle’s feet with the deepest venera- 
tion. But Peter, as a servant of God, fulfilled all 
righteousness, when he raised Cornelius with the 
words, ‘ Stand up, I myself also am a man. Paul 
- and Barnabas acted thus, when the people and _ priests 
at Lystra wished to sacrifice to them as gods; they 
tore their clothes, and said, ‘ We also are men of like 
passions with you, and preach unto you.’ Acts xiv. 15. 
The Angel of God, before whom John prostrated him- 

Gros 


66 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


self in the island of Patmos, declared that this honor 
should be shown to God only, ‘ For Iam thy fellow- 
servant.’ Peter followed the example of his Lord, in 
not seeking his own honor, but that of him who had sent 
him: the nearer we stand to God, and the more we 
experience His grace, the more lowly we become, for 
how can a man be anything, or wish to appear any- 
thing in His light, or in His presence ? 

- Where there is self-ignorance, there is also pride and 
haughtiness, and wherever there is the pride of know- 
ledge, of wisdom, or of fancied virtue, the Spirit of the 
Lord cannot dwell. 

After the Apostle had spoken with the Centurion, 
he entered with him into the hall of reception. Many 
Gentiles were assembled here, and the six Jewish 
brethren who accompanied the Apostle from Joppa, 
joining themselves with them, formed together a little 
community desirous of salvation. 

It was a lovely union, which had never taken place 
until now, a picture of the great and holy covenant, 
which was henceforward to extend over the whole 
earth, embracing all nations, colors, and languages, and 
uniting all into one household of God, in ihe. nnd of 
faith through the Spirit. 

With reverential silence they received the Apostle, 
but confidence was soon restored when he began to 
speak: ‘ Ye know how that tt 1s an unlawful thing for 
a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one 
of another nation ; but God hath showed me that I 
should not call any man common or unclean. There- 
fore came I unto you without gamsaying, so soon as I 


HIS MEETING WITH PETER. 67 


was sent for: I ask, therefore, for what intent ye 
have sent for me?’ Cornelius and his friends knew 
very well that it was an unusual thing for a Jew to be 
in company with Gentiles. The doctors of the law had 
carried to the very utmost the Divine command, to 
hold no fellowship with the godless Canaanites; and, 
at that time, it was even considered a pollution to en- 
ter the house of a Gentile. 

This delusion was about to disappear before the word 
of peace. The Lord Jesus had begun to destroy this 
prejudice, both by word and example, in converting 
Samaritans and Gentiles, and receiving them into his 
fold. Peter, however, justified himself, by appealing 
to the command of God, made known to him by the 
vision at Joppa; Cornelius also gave an account of 
the vision, in which the angel commanded him to call 
the Apostle. ‘ Thou hast done well that thou art come.’ 
He concludes, ‘ Vow, therefore, are we all here present 
before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee 
of God? — 

How simply and truly does the Centurion describe | 
the object for which he and his friends had assembled 
in his house.’ We stand before God, to hear from thee 
all the things which God has commanded. These are 
the words of a soldier, who stands before his general, 
to receive from him the commands.of his king. In- 
stead of saying before God, he might have said before 
thee, as being the ambassador of God; but the ex- 
pression, before God, is more reverential. The Apostle 
Paul uses similar language, when he says, ‘ Now then 
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did be- 


68 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


seech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye 
reconciled to God.’—2 Cor. v. 20. — 

In these strong words Cornelius showed what 
should be the object and character of every solemn as- 
sembly. We are always present before God, our 
heavenly Father, when we join together to worship 
Him in Spirit and in truth. Since the grace of God 
appeared to all men, and God reconciled the world to 
himself through Christ, the common worship of our 
Creator has assumed an entirely new form. It no 
longer requires the magnificent temple, the palace of 
the Eternal, but merely a house of God, where his 
glory may dwell, whether that house be great or 
small ;—the village church is not inferior to the most 
magnificent edifice. In the new dispensation there is 
no veil to conceal the mercy seat—no Holy of Holies, 
which the anointed high priest alone is permitted to 
enter,—no outer court, where the Gentiles must stand 
at a distance. No, the veil is torn, and the barrier 
taken away; a living path into the holy place which 
is above, stands always open. We havea High Priest 
at the right hand of the Father, even Jesus Christ, who 
hath purchased us with His blood, and washed us pure 
from our sins. We are His children and His property, 
a priestly royal people, called from darkness to His 
wonderful light. Where two or three are assembled 
together, there is He in the midst of them. We ap- 
pear before Him in public worship, not as guests and 
strangers, but as fellow-citizens with the saints above, 
as children of the household of God; still on the road 
to our Father’s house, but joyful in good hope, and cer- 


HIS MEETING WITH PETER. 69 


tain of our heavenly inheritance. ‘ Behold what man- 
ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we 
should be called the sons of God’? 1Johniii. 1. 

We are ready to hear all, says Cornelius, which 
God hath commanded thee. In the Holy Scriptures 
we have all which Cornelius desired to hear from the 
Apostle ; for God has richly disclosed to us, in them, 
his hidden wisdom. 

It is a characteristic of the word of God, to shine as 
a light, and illuminate the whole world, that every man 
may be blessed. By it are we reconciled to God our 
heavenly Father, and joined together as His children in 
one holy fellowship. This is the object of the an- 
nouncement of the Gospel, the ordinance of God him- 
self, and belongs to its very nature, as its name implies. 
When we assemble in the house of God, we are visibly 
reminded that we have one Father, from whom all 
things are, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ 
through whom are all things, and we through him; at 
the same time we acknowledge ourselves to be children 
of one Father, members of one body, of which Christ is 
the head, and fellow citizens of the heavenly kingdom. 

We have much greater cause than David, who saw 
the future salvation only from afar, to love the service 
of God, and say, ‘ A day in thy courts is better than a 
thousand ” ‘ Come ye,’ to use the words of Isaiah, that 
Evangelist among the prophets, ‘ Come ye, and let us 
go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the 
God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and 
we will walk in his paths,’ as true worshipers, such 
as the Father wishes us to be. 


70 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


The assembly in the house of Cornelius sets before 
our eyes a beautiful picture of such unions as were soon 
to be common among the Gentiles. They were pene- 
trated with a fervent desire for the light which comes 
fronf above, with a lowly feeling of nothingness before 
God, with a pious veneration for the word of eternal 
life, and the messengers of God who announced it, and 
with child-like simplicity they hung upon the lips of 
the Apostle. They now received with singleness of 
heart the words of truth from his mouth, and there 
grew up in them a living faith, while peace and joy filled 
their souls. 

‘In this we behold the fulfilment of the words of our 
Lord, ‘ Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and 
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which 
built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, 
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon 
that house and it fell not, for it was founded upon a 
rock.’ O beautiful sight! this first house founded on a 
rock, which the Lord built for himself in the midst of 
heathenism, formed of living stones, of hearts seeking 
for peace and truth! ‘Blessed are they that hear the 
word of God, and keep it,’ 


CHAPTER VI. 
PETER’S SERMON. 


‘For I will give you a mouth and wisdom,’ Luke 
xxl. 15.—This isthe promise which our Lord made his 
disciples, and he has faithfully and abundantly fulfilled 
it. How could the timid ignorant Galileans, and the 
persecuting Paul, have proclaimed the goodness of God 
in our redemption to the whole world, if the Lord had 
not given them a mouth and wisdom ? In them, and in 
all those whom, in latter times, the Lord chose to be the 
heralds of his grace and truth, the words were fulfilled 
which Paul says of himself, ‘ When I am weak, then 

am I strong—I — do all things scala a Christ which 
strengtheneth me.’ 

In humility, there is true courage, and in simplicity, 
real power and wisdom. The Lord filleth the hungry 
with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty 
away! Thus sung Mary, the mother of Jesus. And 
Paul writes, ‘ We have this treasure in earthen vesels, 
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not 
of us.’ 2 Cor. iv. 7. Mancan only become the recep- 
tacle of Divine power and wisdom, when self-wisdom 
and self-righteousness are taken away. Peter the 
Apostle required to be purified from the first, before he 
was called to announce the Gospel to the Gentiles— 
and Cornelius to be freed from the second, before he 
could lift up his voice in the praise and glory of God. 


Tz CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


We can only experience the truth and power of the 
Gospel, when we cast away our own wisdom and right- 
eousness, and in all humility seek the righteousness 
which cometh from God. Then will the Lord give us 
a mouth and wisdom, enable us to know more and more 
his grace and truth, to proclaim his goodness, and to 
glorify and praise him. He satisfieth our mouths with 
good things; so that our youth is renewed like the 
eagle’s, 





‘Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I per- | 
ceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every na- 
tion, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is 
accepted with him.’—Acts x. 34, 35. 


‘ Peter opened his mouth and said.” —This expression 
is applied to our Lord, when on the mountain, sur- 
rounded by his disciples and a multitude of people, he 
began to teach them ; also to Philip, when he explained 
the Scriptures to the treasurer from Ethiopia, and 
preached to him the Gospel of Jesus. The Holy Scrip- 
tures frequently make use of this simple mode of speech, 
sometimes to point out more vividly the person speaking, 
and the importance of what he says, and sometimes to 
mark the beginning of some great work. In like man- 
ner, our Lord Jesus, when he wishes to arouse the dif- 
ferent classes of people to whom he is speaking, fre- 
quently says, ‘ Who hath ears to hear, let him hear!’ 
As the ear is the door which conducts into the inner life 
of our souls, so the mouth is the key which unlocks it. 

Our Apostle had already spoken to the Centurion— 


PETER’S SERMON. ia 


he told him he had willingly come to Cesarea, because 
God had shown him there was no man common or un- 
clean; he then asked why Cornelius had summoned him. 
When he heard the humble reply of Cornelius, and saw 
before him the assemblage of Gentiles, all desirous 
of salvation, his heart became full, and he hastened to 
speak. We have here the introduction of the Apostle’ S 
sermon, and seem to be present at the joyful opening 
of his mouth. 

; Of a truth I percewe, wis now exclaims, with re- 
joicing admiration and astonishment. We can only 
comprehend and sympathize with those feelings, if we 
transport ourselves to the time of the old covenant, and 
place ourselves in the situation of the prejudiced Israel 
ites. From the time of Abraham, Israel had been the 
only people which the all-wise God had chosen. He 
had separated them from other nations, brought them 
up in a peculiar manner, and disclosed to them his 
righteous decree, that from them should proceed the 
Savior of men. To them was entrusted the oracles of 
God, and to them was promised a king, and kingdom 
of grace and truth. The law was to proceed from 
Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Is it 
to be wondered at that the Israelites should believe 
themselves to be, as indeed they were, the. nobility of 
the human race ; and that they never could divest them- 
selves of the idea, that the future heavenly kingdom was 
to be Jewish, and that the Gentiles were only to be 
happy servants, and not children of that kingdom? 
Hence it was very difficult for the Apostle of the Lord 
to raise himself above the CORTON prejudice of his peo- 


74 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


ple. He required not only to be instructed by a vision 
from above, but also to receive an especial command 
to go to the Gentile family that sought after him. Now, 
for the first time, in consequence of the divine injunc- 
tion, and also from the sight of Cornelius, his family 
and friends, he acknowledged the decree of God with 
joyful admiration. The Apostle required to see a prac- 
tical illustration of this truth, which he already knew in 
theory ; for he had often heard it from the mouth of 
Jesus Christ, and he himself had distinctly preached it 
at the day of Pentecost, when hé said, ‘ All that are 
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.’ 
It is thus with the decrees of God, in respect of our 
beatitude; the day of our. own experience can alone 
make them clear-to us, and we can only understand the 
whole truth, when we ourselves have seen, tasted, and 
felt the goodness and glory of our Lord. 

What did the Apostle now perceive, ‘ That God is no 
respecter of persons.’ —That is to say, God, the searcher 
of the heart, does not judge from appearance and out- 
' ward talent, whether to impart or withhold his blessing 
unto men, for his love is impartial. When Samuel was 
sent to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s seven sons, 
as King of Israel, he wished to choose Eliab, the first- 
born and most majestic looking ;—but the Lord said, 
‘Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his 
stature ; because I have refused him ; for the Lord seeth 
not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward 
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.’ 1 Sam: 
xvi. 7. God also commands in the law, ‘ Ye shall not 
respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small 


PETER’S SERMON. 75 


as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face 
of man; for the judgment is God’s.’? Deut. 1. 17. 
Jehovah is no respecter of persons, either in his bless- 
ings or in his judgments. Job says, speaking of him, 
‘nor regardeth the rich more than the poor, for they all 
are the work of his hands.’ In his sight, the poor 
widow’s mite is of as much value as the gold thrown in 
to the treasury by the rich. Both give him of their sub- 
stance, and he seeth their hearts. 

But particularly in his kingdom of grace, he has 
shown that he regards not the person. ‘ Not many wise 
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, 
are called.* But God hath chosen the foolish things 
of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath cho- 
- sen the weak things of the world to confound the things 
that are mighty; and base things of the world, and 
things-which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and 
things which are not, to bring to nought things that are ; 
that no flesh should glory in His presence.’ 1 Cor. i. 
26—29. 

He chose the people of Israel, to use the words of 
Moses, the fewest of all people, to be a nation of his 
covenant, and the depository of his wonderful light. He 
drew Moses out of the water, and made him, though 
slow of speech, become his oracle, the leader of his 
hosts, and his trusted one, with whom he spoke as one 
friend speaks to another. He took a shepherd boy, the 
descendant of a Moabitess, from among the sheep, and 
anointed him to be king and prophet in Israel. And 
the Son of God himself. called his Apostles, not out of 

* See Note B, 


76 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


Jerusalem, not out of the schools of the Pharisees, and 
those learned in the law, but from amidst the fishing- 
nets, and out of obscure and despised Galilee. But the 
highest example of God’s impartiality, which astonished 
even Peter the Apostle, was, that he now directed his 
mercy and grace towards. the Gentiles, thereby calling 
all men to his kingdom and fellowship without distinc- 
tion of family or descent. Oh! it is a most precious 
truth that God is no respecter of persons!’ Had he been 
so, then, surrounded by myriads of angels and perfect 
intelligencies, he would never have regarded us poor 
children of the earth. But itis well for us! ‘He know- 
eth our frame ; He remembereth that we are dust.” He 
has looked even upon us, given us the light of his counte- 
nance, and become man for our sakes. O wonderful 
condescension of our God and Savior! Unspeakably 
great is the divine mystery, God manifested in the flesh ! 
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. 
‘In every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh 
righteousness, is accepted with him.’—These words have 
sometimes been explained thus: “It matters not of what 
faith thou art, whether Jew, Heathen, or Mohammedan, 
if thou only honor and fear God, or whatever thou re- 
gardest as thy God—do nothing unjust towards thy 
neighbor—and lead a blameless life before the world— 
then thou requirest nothing more for thy salvation!’ To 
the dishonor of the Gospel, this expression has often been 
thus interpreted. How miserably foolish! The Apos- 
tle Peter would then have contradicted his own words; 
for he said, in Acts iv. 12, speaking of the Name of 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, ‘Neither is there salvation 


PETER’S SERMON. 77 


in any other ; for there is none other name under heaven 
given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ In 
this case also, the devout and charitable Cornelius would 
not have needed to call the Apostle, to hear from him 
what he must do to be saved,—he might have remained 
in heathenism. “Che continuation of the history, and 
the just interpretation of the Apostle’s words, however, 
will show the truth more clearly. 

. . Out of every nation God will certainly recollect his 
_. flock and his people ; He has the heathen for his inherit- 


. ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his posses- 


sion. God wills that all men should be saved, and come 
to the knowledge of the truth. The grace of God has 
appeared to all men, and he has redeemed us by his 
blood ‘ out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation.’ Rev. v. 9. But all is done according to 
his holy and gracious ordinance. Man must first feel 
and confess himself to be in need of help, before he will 
receive it from above ; he must desire and strive to be- 
come blessed, and then all things shall be given unto 
him. Our Apostle says, he that feareth God and work- 
eth righteousness is accepted with him. 

‘ He that feareth God.’—The fear of God is the be- 
ginning of wisdom, the wisdom from above. It is also 
the root and commencement of repentance, faith, and 
sanctification, in a word, of the new and divine life. It 
is not the servile fear which seizes the ungodly, when the 
judgment of God, having arrested him in the midst of 
his profligate course, he sees the handwriting on the wall, 
the joints of his loins are loosened, and his knees smite 


one against another; such a fear only prompts men to 
7* 


78 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


fly from the face of God. Nor is it the fear of an idola- 
tor, which, grounded upon a false idea of the divinity, 
is but the terror of a superior power, and is without 
consolation and without hope. No, the fear alluded to 
by the Holy Scriptures and our Apostle, is very differ- 
ent. It depends as much upon a right understanding 
of the holiness and omnipresence of the living God, as 
on a knowledge of ourselves and our dependence on — 
him. Its very essence is the humble conviction of our | 
distance from him who is the spring of light and life, 
of our unholiness before the Holy One, and our unwor- . 
thiness of his mercy and love, as well as the desire of 
possessing a pure heart, and of enjoying the light of his 
countenance. The true fear of God is already an ap- 
proach to him. The publican, who, in the fear of God, 
entered the temple, and would not lift up so much as 
his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, 
“©God be merciful to me a sinner,’ went down justified 
to his house ; not so the Pharisee, in‘whom no trace of 
the fear of God could be discovered. | 

Cornelius feared God: he had learned to know him 
through divine revelation, and by its light he had also 
become aware of his own unworthiness; for he was 
contrite and pure in spirit. Humility was the root and 
foundation of his spiritual life: he feared God. "When 
this is the case with man, there can never be awanting 
a desire for the grace and fellowship of God. 
_ Peter added this other characteristic : ‘ And worketh 
righteousness,’ that is to say, whoever desires and strives 
to perfect his spiritual life. Our Lord says, ‘ Labor for 
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, or in 


PETER’S SERMON. 79 


other words, seek to obtain everlasting food. In Mat- 
thew, he also says, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness,’—the righteousness which is es- 
teemed in the sight of God, and which he ‘hath com- 
manded. 

Cornelius did seek, but in a natural manner, and ac- 
cording to the light and knowledge he had already ob- 
tained. He endeavored, as far as he could, to do what 
was right, to fulfilthe law and the commands of God. 
He was charitable to the poor, kind and friendly to his 
family and servants, fasted often, prayed continually, 
and was reported among the Jews to be a righteous 
man. But the more he tried to fulfil the law, to leada 
godly lifein thought and deed, and to secure the divine 
approbation, the more he perceived the deficiency of his 
own righteousness, the poverty of his works, and the 
sinfulness of his character. It is impossible, by out- 
ward actions, to change the nature of the heart as long 
as the foundation of all goodness is awanting, the ani- 
mating and quickening love of God. Through the 
works of the law a man can become a servant but nota 
child of God. ‘Cornelius was the servant; and cer- 
tainly his soul, in offering the sacrifices of faith and obe- 
dience, longed to be the child. But the stronger this 
desire became, and the more he tried to love and serve 
the Lord with his’ heart and soul, the more he felt his 
own incapacity, and perceived his distance from that 
righteousness of which God approves, and which could 
only be imparted to him by means of the Gospel: and 
the Holy Spirit. His soul hungered and thirsted for , 
this, with the most heart-felt humility ; like the little 


80 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


seed of corn. beginning to open, which Janguishes for 
the dew and the sunshine. 

Whosoever humbly feareth God, and doeth right- 
eously, and earnestly desires his fellowship, is accepted 
with him; God regards him graciously, receives and 
adopts bine ‘The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear 
him,—in those that hope in his mercy, and the works 
which they do are sacrifices of righteousness, which are 
well pleasing in his sight. So were the prayers and 
alms of Cornelius in the eye of God—he was esteemed 
worthy of a revelation from the invisible world; and 
an Apostle of the Lord was sent to preach the Gospel - 
to his household, and lead them into the kingdom of 
God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost. He who, by the reading of the Scriptures, had 
awakened holy desires in his mind, would now, through 
the gracious influence of his Spirit, enable him to bring 
forth the fruits of righteousness. 


We see, from the words of the Apostle, the way in 
which Cornelius attained righteousness and happiness, 
and became accepted with God. In this manner, and 
in no other, can we become partakers of this treasure. 
Before we can desire the salvation of God, we must feel 
our need of it. The whole need not a physician, but 
they that aresick. The work of regeneration must be- 
gin in our hearts, with the fear of the Lord, a know- 
ledge of his commands, and a lively conviction of our 
own sinfulness and separation from him ;—in other 
words, it must begin with humiliation and repentance. _ 

Conscience already, if we listen to its voice, showsus - 


PETER’S SERMON. 81 


that we have departed from the living spring, and lost 
the paradise of the divine fellowship. ‘Thou hast made 
us, O Lord,’ says a father of the church, ‘ therefore our 
heart is always disquieted until it finds rest in Thee ? 
. Conscience is in reality, a dim ‘feeling, a sort of misty 
conviction of the original innocence which we have lost, 
—of the image of God which is now distorted by sin. 
Hence man, having lost the original equipoise ‘of his 
faculties, feels from: his birth a restlessness and disqui- 
etude from which he seeks to escape by means of levity, 
dissipation, and too frequently by means of vice. Thus 
Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Lord, and Cain, 
prompted by the envious feeling of his ungodly nature, 
became his brother’s murderer. 

The word of God is the awakener of the conscience, 
piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and 
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner’ 
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Then man 
becomes alarmed for himself, and asks, ‘ What must Ido 
to be saved ? This internal disquietude, the conse- 
quence of our fall, is that which leads the sinner back to 
the living spring which he has forsaken. Happy is he 
who, feeling this, and perceiving its real origin, instead 
of seeking to escape from it, or to calm it by worldly 
means, permits it to lead him into the presence of God. 
This is the true fear of the Almighty, which is the be- 
ginning of wisdom! And more and more vividly does 
that man feel his own poverty and insignificance ; and 
more and more humbly and lowly does he become ! 

Happy is it for us that God is greater than our hearts. 
‘ Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the 


82 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


earth is my footstool :—but to this man will I look, 
even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and 
trembleth at my word.’ Isaiah Ixvi. 1,2. ‘if God be 
for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his 
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he 
not, with him also, freely give us all things? Rom. 
viii. 31, 32. _ Let us, therefore, repair to his mercy- 
seat, though we be of the same class of people as the 
publicans and sinners! Even though our sins be as 
scarlet they shall be made white as snow. 

If we, like Cornelius, hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness, or if we feel an earnest desire to forsake an 
ungodly life and obtain peace; and if we, like him, 
seek the Lord in fasting and prayer, and with faith and 
patience long for eternal life, then will the Lord draw 
nigh unto us; we shall more and more experience his 
grace and love; he will purify us from all unrighteous- 
ness, and, by his word and Spirit, give us that peace 
which passeth understanding, which the world can 
neither give nor take away, and which will remain 
through all eternity, for he is faithful that promised. 


CHAPTER VII. 


PETER’S SERMON. 
JESUS CHRIST THE LORD OF ALL, THE AUTHOR OF ALL PEACE, 


‘Gop, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, 
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.’ 

This is the commencement of Paul’s Epistle to the 
Hebrews ; what infinite grace and mercy, on the part of 
our heavenly Father, do these simple words imply! 
God has spoken to man, to the sinful and fallen human 
race. He has descended among them after they had 
. broken his covenant and lost his light and fellowship ! 
He has given them his word, after they could no longer 
behold his countenance, and has made a new covenant 
with them, rebellious and apostate though they be. The 
Word, or, to express the idea differently, the wonderful 
gift of speech,* is the means of connecting the. minds of 
men with each other, and is the instrument of all hu- 
man improvement and development. Without the 
Word, or human speech, there would be neither faith 
nor hope, friendship nor love, sympathy in suffering, 
nor universal joy; we should not have the reciprocal 
cares and affections-of parents and children, nor, indeed, 
any other permanent human connection; we should be 
like the dumb beasts of the field ; but, the longings of our 


* See Note F. 


84 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


superior intellect being ungratified, we should be with- 
out consolation and without happiness. How wonder- 
ful is the arrangement of God, whereby he has connect- 
ed all the prerogatives of man, even his intellect and 
reason, with the breath which proceeds from his mouth. 
As the word is the connecting lnk between man and 
man, which brings their hearts and souls, their thoughts 
and feelings into contact ; so God sent his Word to the 
sinful human race, to techs them into contact with him- 
self, that they might no longer. doubt his grace and 
mercy, and that they, his erring children, might be en- 
abled to find their father once more. This is the reason 
why he has given us his word, and spoken to us in 
former times by his prophets, and in the latter days by 
his Son; this is the object of the law, the PROMIAS: and 
the Gespel 

_ Let us admire the grace of God, when, having spok- 
en to us by the prophets, by his only Son, and by his 
messengers, who were filled with the Holy Spirit, should 
continue to intrust the announcement of the word to 
men, in order to bind them more closely to God, and 
unite them more firmly amongst each other, as being 
fellow citizens of one kingdom, and members of one 
household. | 


~ 





‘The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preach- 
ing peace by Jesus Christ ; he is Lord of all.’—Acts x. 36. 


‘The Apostle now begins his own sermon—it is short 
and simple, but rich in meaning, and comprehensive in 


PETER’S SERMON. 85 


its very brevity and simplicity! The subject is Jesus 
Christ, His work of peace, His word of peace, and his 
kingdom of peace. For the first time Peter begins to 
understand that the expression, ‘ Christ the Lord of all,’ 
signifies that he is the Messiah both of Jew and Gen- 
tile. He now mentions what had already reached the 
ears of Cornelius,—the word of promise which God 
had sent to the children of Israths preaching peace unto 
them by Jesus Christ. 

The expression sent is often used in the Holy Stein 
tures, in speaking of the word of God and the preach- 
ing of it. The Lord uses it himself in Isaiah, when 
comparing it to the rain and snow which fall from 
heaven and fertilize the earth,—‘ So shall my word be 
that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall not return 
unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I 
please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent 
it? lv. 11. After men had sinned arid lost the divine 
image, God sent them his word, the word of promise, 
that during the struggle with the serpent he might be 
near them, and enable them to obtain the victory. 

As the word or human speech, is the wonderful 
instrument which links men together, so the word of 
God imparted to them is the only thing which can 
unite them again to God, and is the object of every di- 
vine revelation to the fallen race. During the first ages 
God held frequent intercourse with man, and his word 
came down directly unto them, for example to Adam, 
Seth, Enoch, Noah, and the other patriarchs ; the Lord 
also spoke with Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, 
as one friend does to another. But as the human race 


8 


86 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


removed farther and farther from the living God, the 
word of promise was entrusted to the children of Israel 
only, partly veiled in allegories, symbols, and shadows, 
partly sent to them by the prophets, until the eternal 
* Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace 
and truth,’ John i. 14. The word of: the old covenant 
was fulfilled to the children of Israel by the sending of 
the Son of God ; and when the new covenant was con- 
‘cluded by the sacrifice of himself, the word of reconcil- 
iation was extended to us also. This is the word 
which is now preached among us and which Cornelius 
longed to hear. ’ 

The Apostle clearly shows the meaning and object 
of this word, by the expression, preaching peace by 
Jesus Christ. Peace! What a beautiful word! It 
signifies the assembling together of all that is true, and 
good, and joyful. For this reason, Israel in ancient 
times, and in the present day their descendants, make 
use of the expression, ‘ Peace be unto you!’ when 
they salute each other, or wish each other joy. But 
what is peace? Since sin and death have entered the 
world, and. every where spread their direful dominion, 
so that no man escapes, peace has disappeared from the 
earth, and in its place disquietude has entered. In the 
circumstances of our first parents when they fell, we 
behold a picture of the restless and disquieted state of 
the whole human race. Instead of looking joyfully 
towards the God of love, who had created them in his 
own image, and now like a father drew near to them ; 
—fear and terror, as for a consuming fire, overpowered 
them, and they sought to escape and to hide themselves 


PETER’S SERMON. | 87 


from his presence. Instead of the child-like innocence 
with which they formerly acknowledged and loved 
their Creator, living in blessed fellowship with him, 
they now experienced the condemnation of their own 
hearts ;—the original simplicity and harmony of their 
natures were destroyed, and discord arose between 
body and soul, so that they warred against each other. 
On looking back after their expulsion from Paradise, 
they beheld the cherubim, with the flaming sword, in- 
stead of their lost Eden ;—before them was death and 
decay ; and a prophetic spirit could discern, in the 
midst of the plains covered with thorns and thistles, 
labor and_ toil, sickness and pain, groaning and 
suffering. 

Internal disquietude cannot “fail to show itself out- 
wardly, hence arose discord and hatred to each other, 
selfishness, envy, hatred and malice. Abel’s blood 
cried for vengeance against the restless and fugitive 
raurderer of his brother. i 

What a melancholy picture! Alas! It is the con- 
dition of the sinful human race, the picture of earth, 
and of its histories. How can peace exist where: sin, - 
the progeny of darkness, has its dwelling, and where 
man, having broken his connection with God, the 
spring of all light and life, has changed his original 
nature, and is at variance both with his Creator and 
himself. When we look above us, to the eternal 
dwelling place of light, and then to our own insignifi- 
cant existence, or observe the vain objects and pur- 
suits, the sighs and longings of men, and then direct 
our gaze to the future—to death and the grave—judg- 


88. CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


ment and eternity !—what terrible testimony have we 
that Adam has broken the covenant and lost the peace 
of God! | | 
Happily for us, we both can and shall regain this 
peace—for he, the God of peace, and the Father of all 
grace, has promised it to all, through Jesus Christ, 
whether they be Jews or Gentiles. The Old Testament 
contains the preliminaries and preparations for this 
bond of peace. Noah saw its sure testimony in the 
dove’s olive branch, and afterwards, in the rainbow 
stretching peacefully amidst the clouds-of heaven over 
the lately convulsed and deluged world. Abraham 
longed to see the day of the Lord, and did see it and 
rejoiced, and the salvation that was to come illuminated 
also the dying bed of the aged Israel. In what beauti- 
ful colors do the prophets paint the promised joyful 
future, particularly Isaiah, the Evangelist of the old 
covenant! In order to ratify this bond of peace, a 
mighty manifestation of grace, on the part of God, was 
necessary, which should so far surpass the ideas and 
comprehension of men, as heaven is higher than the 
earth; namely, the incarnation of the living God, the 
sending of the only Son of the Father. God was 
in Christ, reconciling the world to himself! He sent 
his Son that we might become his children, for so hath 
he loved the world! In speaking of this word of God, 
Peter writes, ‘ Of which salvation the prophets have 
inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the 
grace that should come unto you;’ the angels also de- 
sired to look into those things ; and when they appear- 
ed to the sons of Adam, they celebrated them with 


PETER’S SERMON. 89 


their songs of praise, ‘ Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ 

In what does this peace consist? The Apostle Paul 
answers this question very beautifully, when he says, . 
‘ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we 
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, 
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.’ God is the 
author of the covenant of peace, the God that makes 
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, on the just 
and on the unjust ; and the mediator of this covenant is 
Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners. 
Tt is as plain and obvious as the sun in the heavens, 
and shines upon us in the same manner without any 
agency on our part. As we enjoy light and warmth by 
means of the sun-beams which connect us with the 
luminous orb above; so we receive the grace and 
favor of our God and Savior by means of faith, the 
heart-felt and spiritual link between us and our Creator. 

Through faith we enter into an entirely new relation 
with the world, with the law, and with God; and a 
godly life dawns in our souls, by the efficacy of the Holy 
Spirit.. While we become more and more conscious of 
our innate depravity, we receive at the same time, the 
certainty of the forgiveness of our sins, the pledge 
and seal of our Divine inheritance, and the confident 
assurance that we are the children of God, and joint 
heirs with Jesus Christ. ‘ Things present, or things to 
come; all are yours; and ve are Christ’s ; and Christ 
is God’s.’ As this peace of God is far above our com- 


prehension, and passeth all understanding, so it trans- 
S* 


it 
ce ; 





90 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


cends all human language, is the root and spring of all 
happiness, for peace of conscience is indissolubly con- 
nected with it; our heart no longer condemns us, and 
we have the blessed assurance that whatsoever we ask 
from God, we shall obtain. We have perpetual access 
to his mercy-seat, and when, through our own weak- 
ness, guilt, or faithlessness, our spiritual alliance with 
him is disturbed, we have only to approach him-with 
confidence, acknowledging our sin, to receive anew 
from him mercy and forgiveness. He is greater than 
our hearts, and if we sin, ‘ we have an advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the 
propitiation for our sins.’ He only says to us, ‘ lovest 
thou me ? and is ready to unite us to himself more 
closely than ever, in the covenant that we have broken. 

This peace includes peace with all men; for how 
could envy and hatred, anger and bitterness, dwell in 
a heart which knows how much has been given it, and 
how much has been pardoned? In reference to this 
our Lord says, ‘ Love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
them which despitefully use you and persecute you,’ 
Matt. v. 44. Stephen obeyed this injunction; when 
his enemies gnashing their teeth, ran upon him with one 
accord and stoned him, he said, ‘ Lord lay not this sin 
to their charge.’ They could not disturb the heaven 
which was within him, for he who is in peace with 
God, is in peace with all his creatures. 

We no longer enjoy the garden of Eden upon nthe, 
we must remain pilgrims and strangers during our 
whole life, live in perpetual conflict, and pass our days 


91 





like those of a hired servant. Though Adam and Eve 
mourned among the thorns and thistles of the barren 
earth, for the loss of their beautiful Eden which lay 
behind them, yet there is consolation for us ; in look- 
ing upwards to the heavenly Adam, we behold many 
signs and tokens of a far more glorious Eden. There- 
fore the Apostles, and all those into whose hearts the 
love and peace of God had been poured through the 
Holy Spirit, rejoiced in affliction ; and death itself ap- 
peared to them no longer as the terrible executioner of 
the Divine judgment, but as a heavenly messenger of 
peace, and a guide into the eternal Eden, where all 
strife and warfare are at an end. 

On what does this peace and covenant of peace. 
ground itself? On the glory and dominion of Jesus 
Christ our Savior. Therefore the Apostlesays, ‘ He 
is Lord of all’—that is to say, of all things, animate 
and inanimate. After he had finished the work of re- 
demption, he ascended into his glory, and unto him 
was given all power in heaven and on earth. ‘ For to 
this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that 
he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” Rom. 
xiv. 9. God hath ‘set him at his own right hand, in 
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and 
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that 
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which 
is to come.’ Eph. i. 20, 21. This Lord of all glory 
whom God has exalted, is our Redeemer and Savior— 
our Prince of Peace, and our King! ‘ To us there is 
but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and 
we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are 


92 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


all things, and we by him.’ 1 Cor. vii. 6. He gave 
himself as a mediator between God and man, and hav- 
ing accomplished the work of atonement, he labors 
unceasingly by his word and Spirit, that his kingdom 
may be enlarged, and that of his peace there may me 
no end. 

When Peter announced this Gospel of peace to the 
first assembly of Gentiles at Casarea, they heard it 
in faith, and received it with joy, and were immediate- 
ly admitted into the fellowship of Christians upon earth, 
and into the community of holy ones above. 

That which happened to Cornelius and his house- 
hold, is a picture of what took place with regard to our 
heathen ancestors. The greatest blessing our father- 
land ever experienced, was the arrival of those mes- 
sengers who announced the Gospel of peace, proclaim- 
ing, ‘ Thy God is king? and who scattered in our soil 
the imperishable seed of the word of truth, that we 
might thereby become the first fruits of his creatures. 
Since that time, the Gospel has dwelt in our land, and 
the Prince of Peace has sojourned among us, and pro- 
claims to us, ‘Come unto me, and ye shall find rest unto 
your souls !” 

‘ How shall we escape, if we neglect so great sal- 
vation ; which, at the first, began to be spoken by the 
Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard 
him.’ Heb. ii. 3. Seek ye peace and truth, are the 
words of the prophet, thereby giving us to understand 
what we have lost. We have fallen away from God, 
and each one, according to his peculiar circumstances, 
finds himself in a state of perpetual declension. All 


PETER’S SERMON. ; 93 


men have a feeling, though it may be an obscure one, 
that it is so with them; they all seek for some resting 
place. In this way self-delusion easily arises, for a 
drowning man grasps at every straw. The Apostle 
John warns us of the danger of this, when he con- 
cludes his first epistle with the words, ‘ Little children 
keep yourselves from idols.’ He does not mean the 
idolatrous images of the heathen, but a far more dan- 
gerous species of idolatry, against which the children of 
light have also to struggle—the worshiping of self, 
and of the world,—the lust of the eye, the lust of the 
flesh, and the pride of life. These more refined idola- 
tries are not less sinful, though less easily detected, than 
the grossest idolatry of the heathen; and they lead the 
heart of man as far, if not farther astray, from the living 
God. It is much more dangerous to have an idol in 
ourselves, or in our own hearts, than to have it out- 
wardly before our eyes. When we regard the charac- 
ter and pursuits of the greater part of men, we discover 
how eagerly they all seek for peace—but, alas, they 
seek it only in the world, and in its perishable wealth, 
where it is not to be found. If at times the feeling 
of their restless unhappy state arises strongly in their 
souls, they strive to banish it by what is falsely named 
pleasure, and there, in voluntary self-delusion and blind- 
ness, they remain in their fallen, miserable state, until 
at last, when too late, they become aware of the de- 
ceitfulness of sin, and without peace sink into the 
grave ! 

Oh! be ye reconciled to God, while there is yet 
time, and see that ye receive not the grace of God in 


94 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


vain! Now is the appointed time, now is the day of. 
salvation! Follow the example of the Gentile family 
at Caesarea, who rested not until they had found peace 
through him who is the Prince of Peace! The peace 
of God which passeth all understanding, keep your 
hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Amen. 


CHAPTER VIIL 


PETERS SERMON. 


CHRIST ANOINTED BY THE HOLY GHOST. 


‘Tuis is a faithful saying; and worthy of all accepta- 
tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin- 
ners, of whom I am chief? The Apostle Paul writes 
thus to his beloved Timothy, full of joy because the 
glorious Gospel of the blessed God was committed to 
his trust—and thanking Jesus Christ, his Lord, for 
counting him faithful, and committing to him. the minis- 
try of reconciliation. The Apostle then compares his 
former state, as ‘a blasphemer, a persecutor, and inju- 
rious,’ with his present renewed and holy life; and 
shows us the ground of that peace which he had en- 
joyed since he knew the Lord Jesus, and believed on 
him. The Apostle could not have given a stronger ex- 
ample than his own, of the grace of God, and the re- 
newing and converting power of the Gospel! He who 
formerly had breathed out threatenings and slaughter 
against the disciples of the Lord, had now become a 
messenger of peace, from whom the divine brightness 
was reflected, and, in the strength of the Holy Spirit, 
was about to renew, by the words of his mouth, the 
image of God in the long estranged world. What he 
had received, he was to impart to others; and those 
whose hearts the Lord should open, were, through his 


96 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


means, to become that which he now was. We behold 
in Paul an example of a believer, whose life was hid 
with Christin God. He therefore adds, ‘ For this cause 
I obtained mercy, that in me first, ‘Jesus Christ might 
show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them 
which should hereafter believe on him to life everlast- 
ing’—and the ground of this faith and peace is contain- 
ed in the true and precious words, ‘ that Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners.’ 

If we wish to attain the peace of God, and become 
heirs of everlasting life, we must first firmly believe the 
words of reconciliation and atonement, and then love 
and prize them with our whole hearts and souls, for 
this is life eternal, ‘to know Thee, the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’ And this life 
we shall enjoy, if we, like the Gentile Cornelius, in all 
humility, hunger and thirst after righteousness and sal- 
vation.. As the blind, the lame, and the unclean, came 
unto Christ while he walked upon earth, and were heal- 
ed by him; so we must first approach, and by faith lay 
hold of our incarnate Redeemer, who came into this 
world and dwelt among us. For this reason the New 
Testament commences with the four-fold history of our 
Savior; and the Apostle Peter begins his sermon.to — 
Cornelius, with an account of the earthly pilgrimage of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us also contemplate it. 


‘That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout 
all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which 
John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with 


PETER’S SERMON: ® 97 


the Holy Ghost, and with power; who went about doing 
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for 
God was with him.’—<Acts x. 37, 38. 


In order to understand the commencement of our 
text, ‘That word, which was published throughout all 
Judea, we must observe that it is a peculiar property 
of the language in which the divine revelations were 
written, to express word and thing by the same com-~- 
bination of letters. The well-known sentence in Luke 
i. 37, ‘For with God nothing shall be impossible,’ 
might also be translated ‘no word* shall be impossible.’ 
In the same way the shepherds at Bethlehem say, ‘ Let 
us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this word 
which is come to pass,’ or as it is in our translation, 
‘this thing which is come to pass.’ That which we 
express by the term thing, signifies also, in the lan- 
guage of the people of God, word or words, and with 
great reason. Without God’s word and will, nothing 
can be done ; a sparrow cannot fall to the ground with- 
out his permission. When He speaks, it is done, when 
He commands, it stands fast. Every thing before it 
takes place, is but a word in the mind of God; and af- 
terwards, when it has happened, and become a fact, it 
again becomes a word in being related to another. The 
flood happened long ago, but in words it stands written 
as if still happening, forming a living picture before our 
eyes. The incarnation of the Son of God was from 
all eternity a word and counsel of the Almighty; and 


* In the original ro nya, literally ‘the word,’ which, like the He- 
brew 425, signifies in the sacred writings, either word or thing. 


9 


98 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


it was also a word in the mouths of his prophets. At 
his birth m Bethlehem it became a fact, or a thing 
done ; afterwards it again became a word, a preaching, 
‘an announcement, and a Gospel. The great subject to 
which Peter alludes, is the history of Jesus Christ, his 
actions and his earthly pilgrimage. This is what we 
must now consider. 

‘ That word, I say, ye know, which was published 
throughout all Judea.’—Cornelius had already heard of 
Jesus and his miracles; the report of them had spread 
through all Judea, through Syria, and the neighboring 
countries. The Apostles, but particularly Philip, had 
preached the Gospel in Samaria ; and, at a later period, 
it had even reached Caesarea. Certainly Cornelius 
would receive Peter’s intelligence with far more eager- 
ness, and it would arrest his soul far more powerfully, 
because he had all along expected that salvation should 
come from this Jesus of Nazareth. For the same reason, 
the Apostle, taking for granted that Cornelius and his 
friends, were already acquainted with Jesus and his 
miracles, thus addressed them, ‘That word I say, ye 
know, which was published throughout all Judea.’ 
Judea, that is to say, Canaan, was, according to the 
prophecy of Isaiah, to be the land of Emmanuel ; and 
Micah also says, ‘ But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though 
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of 
thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in 
Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from 
everlasting.’ 

‘And began from Galilee, after the baptism which 
John. preached.’—Jesus lived in Galilee, in the little 


PETER’S SERMON. 99 


town of Nazareth, in perfect seclusion, until his thirtieth 
year. Jt was out of Galilee he came when he began 
his office of teaching ; here he called his first disciples ; 
and here he performed the first and also the greater 
part of his-miracles. Out of the obscure and despised 
Nazareth arose the light and salvation of the world, ac- 
cording to the words of the prophet, ‘ The people that 
walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that 
dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them 
hath the light shined.’ Isaiah ix. 2. The ways of God 
_ upon earth have always been different from the ways 
of men—as he, at the creation, called forth light out of 
darkness; so he now made the work of redemption arise 
out of obscurity and insignificance. 

This great work commenced with the baptism of 
John; when this man of God, in the spirit of Elias, 
preached repentance for the remission of sins, announc- 
ing the approach of the kingdom of heaven, and. the 
dawn of the Sun of Righteousness—and when Jesus 
came to him desiring to be baptized. Then that word, 
which had been concealed in the bosom of the Father 
from the beginning of the world, assumed a form in 
which it could be seen and heard; and that was done 
after the manner of men, which had never entered the 
imagination of man to conceive. The Lord of light 
and glory, in a form of deep humiliation, as though he 
had required the baptism of repentance, in order to fulfil 
all righteousness, permitted himself to be baptized by a 
man, who, according to his own confession, was un- 
worthy to unloose the latchet of his shoes. 

- Thus the divine work, which was to remove for ever 


100 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


the separation between heaven and earth, between the 
Holy God and the sinful human race, was begun in the 
deepest humility, and the divine nature must become hu- 
man, before the human could become divine. 

The Apostle now describes our Lord himself and his 
life upon earth. He calls him simply Jesus of Naza- 
reth, as shortly before he had proclaimed him to be 
‘ Lord of all.? He makes use of that human name which 
the angel had given him at his birth, and which had 
been a very common one among the Israelites since the 
time of Joshua.—‘ Jesus, with the addition, of Nazareth.’ 
As the Lord himself, through the depths of humiliation, 
must perfect his work of righteousness before re-ascend- 
ing to that glory and splendor which were his from the 
beginning ; so must also his name, in the same path of 
obedience, shame and humiliation, become a name above 
all names, to which every knee should bow, and which 
every tongue should praise. Jesus our Savior and Re- 
deemer, ‘ is able also to save them to the uttermost that 
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make 
intercession for them.’? Heb. vii. 25; it was he, this 
high and holy one, of whom the Apostle speaks. But 
Cornelius and his friends must learn to know him as the 
Son of Man, and the Messiah, who came into the world 
to save sinners,—he is therefore called the Man of 
Nazareth. 

‘Ye know,’ continued Peter, ‘how God anointed him 
with the Holy Ghost, and with power.’—This expression 
is symbolical. Anointing with oil was an Eastern cus- 
tom, meant to denote a peculiar honor,—it was princi- 

pally used when kings were crowned, and was a token, 


PETER’S SERMON. 101 


that as they were ordained by God, they should also 
receive his gifts. The anointed ones of ancient times, 
however, were only pictures and shadows of a greater 
ANOINTED Ong, the Messias, or the Christ. In Jesus 
of Nazareth the prophecy was fulfilled, ‘The Spirit of 
the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath 
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek : he 
hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim 
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable 
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God ; 
to comfort all that mourn.’ Is. lxi. 1,2. This anoint- 
ing took place visibly, when heaven was opened after 
he was baptized by John, when ‘the Holy Ghost de- 
scended in a bodily shape, like a dove, upon him ; and 
a voice came from heaven, which said, thou art my be- 
loved Son; in thee I am well pleased.’ Most wonder- 
ful mercy of God! The only Son of the Father came 
down among us in a simple and lowly form, as a man 
among the children of men, anointed with the Holy 
Spirit, and with power from above, in order that he, as 
the mediator between God and man, might fulfil that 
work of redemption for which his Father had sent him ; 
and that we also might be anointed through him who 
is infinite in holiness. 

‘Who went about doing good, and healing all that 
were oppressed of the devil ; for God was with him.’— 
In these few words, the Apostle gives us a sketch of 
the whole life of our Lord. , The last three years of his 
life were spent in perpetually going about from one 


place to another, in Judea, Galilee and Samaria. The 
O* 


102 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


good shepherd, who sought first the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel, here revealed himself as the promised 
one, through whom the sinful world should again re- 
ceive the light and life which it had lost,—and here, for 
the space of three years, he preached to all, the Gospel 
of the kingdom of God; but in the life of our Lord one 
- day was as a year, so rich was it in manifestations of 
grace and truth, in word and deed: 

‘ Doing good.’—In these two words the Apostle de- 
scribes the object of that life which was a source of so 
many blessings. The greater the thing, the more sim- 
ple are the words required to express it. We say of the 
sun, as well as of the smallest satellite that twinkles 
in the firmament, “ if rises.””>—-We use the same expres- 
sion, “ a shines,” in speaking of an insignificant litile 
taper, as when describing our great luminary which 
showers down so many benefits. John expresses the 
highest and most glorious thing which can be said of 
God, in those most simple words ‘ God is love!’ 

The words in our text, ‘ doing good, although com- 
mon, and not remarkable, are most glorious and com-’.- 
prehensive in sense and signification. Beneficence, — 
compassion, and love, constituted the character of our 
Lord ; and were the beams which issued from him un- 
ES for he was the Son of Righteousness, and — 
the Light of the world, imparting life, joy, and energy 
to all who approached him. Peter adds, ‘Healing all 
those that were oppressed of the devil ;? and these cer- 
tainly were the greatest and most remarkable cures 
which our Lord performed. Jesus Christ healed in- 
numerable sick people, of whom the Evangelist has 


se 
Rae 

ae 

a 


PETER’S SERMON. 103 


only described a few, all that was necessary, was to be 
in his neighborhood, to behold his countenance, to utter 
a few petitioning words, or to touch his garment, and 
the blind saw, the deaf heard, the lepers were made 
clean, and the sick became whole. Wicked spirits, and 
every kind of disease, must equally give way before the 
power with which God anointed him. 
Sickness, and every kind of malady, are, in their 
character and origin, merely the fruits and consequence 
of that power which the devil has obtained over man 
by sin. The root of the evil lies in the kingdom of 
darkness, for in heaven above there shall be no more 
sickness. Thus, every cure which our Lord performed 
was a victory over the kingdom of darkness—of life 
over death—and a sure proof that he was the light and 
life of the world. In the expression, ‘ healing all that 
were oppressed of the devil,’ the Apostle includes all 
who were diseased, or afflicted in any ‘way; but, cer- 
tainly, those who were inhabited by evil spirits, whose 
souls were bound by Satan, the demoniacal and the 
possessed, had especial cause to praise and glorify the 
loving mercy of their deliverer. There were many 
such unfertunates at the time when the Son of God was 
upon earth—at the dawn of the kingdom of light, the 
power of Satan had stepped visibly forward on the 
- arena—and, it must have been by divine permission, in 
order to show more clearly the fearful dominion of 
sin and death, and thereby to prove the power of that 
victorious Prince of Peace, who came to destroy them. 
The Lord healed those miserable beings, as a proof that 
Satan, who had the power of the death, was now over- 


104 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


thrown, along with the whole kingdom of darkness ; 
and that Jesus of Nazareth was in reality ‘the Savior 
of the world, who should deliver the men of all ages 
and all nations from the power of evil, and make them, 
through the Holy Spirit, able to receive salvation, and 
be partakers of the fellowship of God. His innumera- 
ble deeds of almighty power and love, were performed 
and written, as John says in his Gospel, ‘ that ye might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and 
that believing ye might have life through his name,’ 
chap. xx. 31. 

‘For God was with him’—What great and glorious 
things the Apostle expresses in these few words, which 
at first sight appear too simple, because they are fre- 
quently used in the Holy Scriptures with regard to 
other men. Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘ God is with 
thee in all that thou doest ;’ of Joseph, it is said, ‘ the 
Lord was with him,’ meaning, that God ‘ made all he 
did to prosper in his hand.’ Nicodemus said to Jesus, 
‘ No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except 
God be with him.’ God was with Joshua and also with 
Elias, when ‘ the Lord harkened to the voice of a man.’ 
But these words, when used of the Son of God, have a 
much higher sense, and a deeper meaning. He alone 
could say of himself,‘ I and the Father are one ; he that 
hath seen me hath seen the Father ; [am in the Father, 
and the Father in me.’ These are the precious words 
which our Lord Jesus speaks of himself, thereby dis- 
closing his nature and character,—and ito which his 
own miracles, and afterwards those of his disciples, bore 
testimony. 


PETER’S SERMON. 105 


Our Apostle, in reference to the promise in the old 
covenant, with which Cornelius was acquainted, uses 
the expression, ‘God was with him, with which his 
prophetical name, Immanuel, or ‘God with us,’ beau- 
tifully corresponds. Jesus of Nazareth has appeared as 
the Immanuel of the human race, in order that the 
whole earth might become a land of Immanuels. We 
behold in the human form of the Son of God, and in 
his earthly pilgrimage, our own human nature exalted, 
and, in looking towards him, we may exclaim, ‘ God 
is also with us! The Lord of heaven, who in all things 
became like his brethren, and was not ashamed to call — 
himself brother, is our new and our true Adam. Noman 
cometh to the Father but by him; He is the way, the 
_ truth, and the life—He in us and we in him; He is the 
vine, we are the branches ; He is the shepherd, and we 
are the sheep. This is the signification of his name, Im- 
manuel! Hosanna be to him who has come, and who 
will come again! Amen. 


CHAPTER IX. 


PETER’S SERMON. 


THE APOSTLES TIIE WITNESSES OF CHRIST. 


‘Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, 
and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter- 
most part of the earth, Actsi.8. Thus spake the 
Lord Jesus to his disciples, when, after his work on 
earth was accomplished, he led them up the Mount of 
Olives, and ascended from thence into heaven. After 
they had received the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, 
the Apostle fulfilled gloriously and wonderfully the 
commission of their ascended Lord, converting nations 
to the Gospel, by the testimony of their mouths and by 
their written words. . , 

How simple and deep, how natural, and yet how di- 
vine, are their narrations, both of the actions and words 
of Jesus Christ! That disciple whom the Lord loved 
in his Gospel, his first Epistle and his Revelation, gives 
us a glimpse both of his own spirit and. that of all the 
Apostles. The word with which the first Epistle begins 
are particularly worthy of remark. It was composed 
in his old age as bishop of Ephesus, and in reference to 
his then nearly concluded ministry ; but both in it and 
in the commencement of his gospel, his heart seems to 
- expand, and we can clearly perceive, in the midst of 
his fatherly earnestness, the same spirit of love which 


PETER’S SERMON.’ 107 


prompted him to lie on the bosom of his much loved 
and now glorified Master. ‘That which was from the 
beginning,’ he writes, ‘which we have heard, which 
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked 
upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life ; 
that which we have-seen and heard declare we unto 
you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and 
truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his 
Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, 
that our joy may be full.’ 

With what depth of feeling does the Apostle speak 
here of his ministry, and of his bearing witness to Jesus 
Christ, and the truth of his Gospel! His language 
struggles with his thoughts and sensations, and he 
strives to express the dignity of his office, and the glory 
of his heavenly Master. The Word which was from the 
beginning,—that life which is eternal, had appeared to 
them who were to be his messengers,—they had seen it 
with their eyes, had looked upon‘it and touched it with 
their hands,—that which they had seen and heard they 
now announced, in order that all who heard and re- 
ceived it might have fellowship with the Apostles,— 
that they might become Apostles also, be made par- 
takers of the same happiness, and enjoy the same fel- 
lowship with the Father and the Son. 

How could the high object and dignity of the Gospel 
testimony be more simply and strongly laid before us, 
than in these words? All the Apostles thought and 
felt as John here expresses himself,—they even ven- 
tured to offer themselves as examples to the faithful in 
their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in their 


oe ke oe pel 


108 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


conformity to him, asin 1 Cor. xi. 1. ‘ Be ye followers 
of me, even asI also am of Christ,’ and in Phil. in. 17, 
‘ Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them 
which walk so, as ye have us for an ensample.’ 

May the Lord awaken in our souls the lively wish to 
be in simplicity of heart and love, like those men who 
first bore testimony to ‘ the faithful and true witness, the 
beginning of the creation of God,’ and may he enable 
us to do this by the power of the Holy Spirit! 





‘ And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the 
land of the Jews, and in Jerusalentf.’—Acts, x. 39. 


Wirx these words the Apostle Peter interrupts his 
narration of the actions and character of the Lord Jesus. 
We, he says, his disciples and Apostles, were eye and 
ear witnesses of the great and wonderful manifestation 
of God, in his Son Jesus of Nazareth. John says, ‘ we 
beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth.’ We, the witnesses 
chosen of God, ‘ did eat and drink with him,’ says our 
Apostle in verse 41, laying great stress on his own tes- 
timony, and that of his fellow-apostles, for the greater a 
thing is in itself, the more testimony does it require, and 
so much the more important is the office of a witness. 

For this first testimony, we must thank the word of 
reconciliation, which has reached us, and, by the power 
of the Holy Spirit, has inspired the world as with a new 
life : this word lives, and will ever live among us, for 
it isa spring of life proceeding from God himself, which 
cannot be dried up, and which flows for ever. 


PETER’S SERMON. 109 


When the Apostle says,‘ We are witnesses of all 
things which he did,’ he speaks of the actions of Jesus. 
These actions were ample proof and testimony that the 
Father had sent the Son, that the Father is in him, and 
he in the Father, and that both He and the Father are 
one. Jesus said, ‘ If 1 do not the works of my Father, 
believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, 
believe the works.’ When the disciples of John came 
~ to him and asked, ‘ Art thou he that should come ? or 
look we for another? Jesus referred them to his mira- 
cles as a proof that he was Jesus the Lord. In what 
other manner, or by what other means could Jesus of 
Nazareth, in his humble human form, have shown forth 
his glory, than by those deeds of Almighty power and 
love ? Is it not the peculiar property of the manifesta- 
tions of the invisible God, that the lowly should yield to 
the highest one, and that external nature should quail 
before him, who was to regenerate the world? How 
could Jesus have proved more fully, that ‘in him was 
life ; and that the life was the light of men,’ that when 
he restored the eye and. the ear to their proper 
functions, which, to their possessors, were as though 
they had been dead, and when he summoned the buried 
body of a Lazarus again to life? In what can we 
more clearly perceive his power over the mysterious 
world of sin and darkness, and be convinced that he is 
the Son of God, who came to destroy the works of | 
Satan, than when we look upon those whom he healed, 
who were possessed of the devil, and whom he deliver- 
ed from the bonds of sin and of death ? 

Nicodemus said, ‘ no man can do these miracles that 

10 


110 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


thou doest, except God be with him ;’ it neither oc- 
curred to him, nor to any one among the nations of 
antiquity, to doubt the connection of Godlike deeds 
with Divine power, the one being the characteristic of 
the other. 

The miracles of Jesus prove his close, though inex- 
plicable, relation to God his heavenly Father, and are 
Divine credentials of the unspeakable dignity of his 
person. The actions of men show us their mind and 
disposition ; they, in like manner, represent to us the 
mingling of the Divine and human in the character of 
Jesus ; they make the picture perfect, and, at the same 
time, prove his power to deliver:the world from sin and 
from death. ‘ All these are written, says John, in the 
conclusion of his Gospel, ‘ that ye might believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; uted that pueraeed 
ye might have life through his name.’ 

These miracles of the Lord were performed in the 
land of Immanuel, in Judea and Jerusalem—before the 
eyes of that people, among whom, for ages past, the 
God of Israel had performed so many mighty deeds, 
and to whom he had manifested his strong hand, and 
stretched out arm, in such a variety of ways,—before a 
people from whom light and life, truth and justice, were 
to come forth, and spread over the whole world, but 
who also had always proved themselves to be a re- 
bellious and perverse generation, and of whom the 
Lord himself had said, ‘If the mighty works which 
were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, 
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and 
ashes,’ If the chosen people had not gazed listlessly 


PETER’S SERMON. 111 


on the miracles of Jesus, with which the whole land 
was resounding, but had they, on the contrary, recog- 
nised, and in faith received him, as the promised and 
jong-expected one, as the way, the truth, and the life ; 
then Israel would have become a nation of evangelists, 
an apostolic people, the salt and light of the earth, and 
through them the Canaanitish kingdom of the world 
would have been annihilated. 

Alas! Jesus came to his own kingdom and his own 
people, but they received him not, and rejected his tes- 
timony. This appears incomprehensible—but this peo-_ 
ple, so wonderfully singled out from other nations, had 
become accustomed to the mighty actions of God, per- 
formed in the days of their fathers, and which, being 
. described in the Holy Scriptures, they had read from - 
their youth upwards—their hearts had become harden- 
ed, and their minds callous, both to miracles, and to the 
law and the prophets; all of which seemed to them, 
merely every day things. 

For this reason they gazed without wonder on the 
miracles of Jesus, as they would have done at any tran- 
sient illusion, while, at the same time, they despised his 
doctrines, and were displeased with his person. There- 
fore the curse of Moses, instead of Abraham’s blessing, 
rested on them, and continues even to the present day, 
—a melancholy proof of the estrangement of man from 
his heavenly Father, and of the difficulty he finds, after 
having quitted the right path, to return to his proper 
existence, a life in accordance with the will of God. 
In the obstinacy and rebellion of the house of Israel, 
we have a manifestation of the depravity of the heart 


112 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


of man. In the miracles of Jesus, which the rulers and 
princes of the people could not deny, without contra- 
dicting the testimony of their senses, they rather chose 
to behold the power of Satan, than the finger of the 
living God. The 8 of such delusion is given 
in the words of our God, < If, therefore, the light that 
is in thee be darkness, thine great is that darkness!’ 
Matth. vi. 23. 

The Lord Jesus knew well that it would happen 
thus, and that only a few of the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel would acknowledge him as the good 
Shepherd. 

He therefore chose twelve men to be his Apostles, 
and his own peculiar witnesses, according to the num- 
ber of the unbelieving tribes of Israel—and he also 
chose seventy believing disciples, to go two and two 
and prepare his way before him ; they corresponded to 
the seventy elders of the supreme counsel,* who reject- 
ed him, and on whom the Holy Spirit no longer rested, 
(Num. xi. 25.) To them he said, ‘ Ye shall be wit- 
nesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, 
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth,’ Acts i. 8.—‘ And ye shall bear witness, be- 
cause ye have been with me from the beginning,’ 
John xv. 27. The grace and the dignity of that office 
with which the Lord invested them, was unspeakably 
great —‘ Blessed,’ he says, ‘ are the eyes which see the 


* The Sanhedrim or Council, who datermnihad the most im. 
portant affairs of the nation; they had the power of life and death, 
and even the king, the high priest, and the titan, were under 
their jurisdiction, Luke xxii. 66, 


PETER’S SERMON. 113 


things that ye see, for I tell you, that many prophets 
and kings have desired to see those things which ye 
see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those things 
which ye hear, and have not heard them.’ Luke x. 
23, 24. They were to see and hear the greatest of all 
the manifestations of God, imto which the prophets, 
who had foretold it, had wished to search, and which 
even the angels desired to look upon; they were also, 
as being eye and ear witnesses, to announce it to the 
world. That which John the Baptist.says of his own 
Divine calling, ‘ A man can receive nothing except it — 
be given him from heaven,’ applies in a still greater 
degree to the disciples and apostles of the Lord. He 
himself says unto them, ‘ Ye have not chosen me, but I 


~~ have chosen you.’ John xv. 16. 


How did Jesus choose his disciples? Certainly not 
from caprice, nor in order to try them; but as he 
‘needed not that any should testify of man; for he 
knew what was in man, he chose them according to 
his Divine wisdom and rectitude. He acted in this as 
he had formerly done in his choice of David to be king 
of Israel; for he looked not on the outward appear- 
ance but on the heart. He did not choose his witnesses 
out of the schools of the learned and acute Scribes and 
Pharisees, nor yet out of the far-famed Jerusalem, but 
out of the obscure and much contemned Galilee. Here 
he found, and chose for his own, Peter, John, and 
James—sinful and weak like other men, but of simple 
hearts and minds, and uncorrupted by the destructive 
luxury of the capital, and the dry and. self-righteous 
wisdom of the schools. Withdrawn from the privileges 

Ke 


114 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


of their people, their souls were like empty vessels, 
_ which afforded room for-the truth, and more easily re- 
ceived and preserved it; the eyes of their understand- 
ing were simple and unsophisticated, so that at the first 
glance, they perceived something of the hidden glory 
of the Lord Jesus, and joyfully received him. There- 
fore he needed only to say the truly simple and pater- 
nal words, ‘ Follow me and I will make you fishers of 
men ;’ and the word found a place in their child-like 
hearts, ‘ they straightway left their nets and followed 
him.’ 

Jesus of Nazareth appeared, at first sight, to them, 
merely a beloved master and teacher ; soon, however, 
he became a prophet mighty in word and deed,—after- 
wards, they acknowledged him as the long promised 
Lord and Savior ;—and at last they worshiped him as 
the only begotten Son of the eternal God! The Son 
of Righteousness illuminated their minds only by de- 
grees ; they must live three years with their Lord, and 
behold all that took place during that blessed and gra- 
cious period; they were defective, and erred in many 
ways : when the first hour of their Master’s suffering 
had arrived, their feeble light seemed to darken; their 
first love, however, was not utterly quenched, except- 
ing in that child of Satan who betrayed him ;—in the 
other disciples, the glimmering light soon burned again 
brightly, never more to be extinguished. During forty 
days they beheld him who had risen from the dead; 
they were witnesses of his visible ascension into hea- 
ven, and received, from his own mouth, the promise, 
‘Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 


PETER’S SERMON. 115 


world.2 Matth. xxviii. 20. In this manner, those first 
witnesses and heralds of the kingdom of God, gradu- 
ally increased in love and in piety, until they were pre- 
pared to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit im full 
measure, and to dispense to others, that living water 
which shall flow on for ever, and fertilize the garden 
of the new Eden. 

They must now say to the whole world—we are 
messengers of Christ, witnesses of one who came into 
the world to save sinners, to whom all power is given 
in heaven and in earth! . Like the Lord himself, who 
went with them through Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, . 
every where manifesting his glory, and inviting the 
weary and heavy-laden to come unto him—his mes- 
sengers now spread themselves over the whole world, 
preaching Jesus Christ, their crucified and now risen 
Lord, and calling upon all, high and low, rich and 
poor to turn from darkness:to light, and from the pow- 
er of Satan unto God! The word grew and prevailed, 
in order that the earth might become full of the know- 
ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. All 
this was done through the instrumentality of the untu- 
tored men of Galilee, and by means of the Apostle 
Paul, whose self-righteousness and wisdom the Lord 
having taken away, transformed him from a fierce and 
cruel enemy into a faithful servant and friend; so that 
he now determined to know nothing ‘save Jesus Christ 
and him crucified.—Most wonderful efficacy of the 
word, which to the Jew was as a stumblingblock, and 
to the Greeks foolishness, which was every where spok- 
en against, and which was as much at variance with 


116 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


the nature of man, as the cross on which it is ground- 
ed, by the very mention of which a Roman fancied 
himself dishonored. But the Lord, whose name is: 
‘ Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God,’ was 
with his servants who bore witness unto him,—their 
watchword was, ‘whether we live, we live unto the 
Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; 
whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s! 
They rejoiced in their sufferings, and at last had the 
honor of sealing their testimony with their blood, in 
their deaths to become like their great Shepherd, and 
then to receive out of his own hand the crown of 


glory ! 


These simple men, who came out of an obscure cor- 
ner of the world, but who were anointed by the Spirit 
and power of God, preached among us the divine work 
of redemption, ‘ the hidden wisdom which God ordained 
before the world unto our glory.’—As the cross was 
raised upon Calvary—they raised up the word of atone- 
ment in our miserable world, the dwelling place of sin 
and of death, and poured forth every where a new life. 
We must have lost the power of appreciating what is 
great and divine, if we are not penetrated with asto- 
nishment and admiration, when we look on the unpre- — 
tending aspect of those witnesses of the truth, and on 
the simple means by which they affected such glorious 
~ results; in short, on their human insignificance and — 
lowliness, and yet their heroic courage. Are not our 
schools and churches, baptism and the eucharist, our 
Bibles and songs of praise, our hospitals and orphan- 


PETER’S SERMON. 117 


houses, all monuments of those witnesses who preached 
the Gospel in our land, and testified here of that faithful 
and true witness who is called Amen. 

We must not content ourselves with a mere transient 
admiration of those instruments in the hands of the 
Lord, who were so weak, and yet so strong—but we 
must receive the intelligence they utter as the oracles 
of God. ‘If we receive the witness of men,’ says John 
in his first Epistle v. 9, 10, ‘the witness of God is great- 
er: for this is the witness of God, which he hath testi- 
fied of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God 
hath the witness in himself,’—and in the twelfth verse, 
‘He that hath the Son hath life? Another Apostle 
says, ‘ How shall we escape if we neglect so great sal- 
vation, which at the first began to be spoken by the 
Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard 
him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs 
and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the 
Holy Ghost, according to his own will.’ Heb. u. 3, 4. 
We need no longer the testimony of signs and mira- 
cles; of them the Bible presents us with sufficient, and, 
indeed, the Holy Scriptures, in their origin and compre- 
hensiveness, are as great a miracle of God as any thing 
related in them. Those messengers, to whom the Lord 
gave a mouth and wisdom, still walk among us, and 
pray and admonish us thus continually, ‘ Be ye recon- 
ciled to God ” and when we receive their word, there 
rises up in our own hearts a witness, which transports 
us above all that is external and earthly. It happens 
to us as it did to the man lame from his mother’s womb, 
at the gate of the temple called Beautiful, when Peter 


118 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


took hold of his right hand, and raised him up, in the 
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, ‘ immediately his 
feet and ankle bones received strength, and he, Jeaping 
up, stood and walked, and entered with them into the 
temple, walking and leaping, and praising God,’ Acts 
ii. 7,8. ‘If ye continue in my word,’ says our Lord, 
John vii. 31, 32, ‘then are ye my disciples indeed, 
and ye shall Lic the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free.’ 

The whole fof the Gospel is God’s testimony to his 
Son; it is like the gift of speech bestowed on man, that * 
he wight preserve it, impart it, and extend it. It is 
therefore called gospel, that is to say, ‘good news,’ 
and a joyful announcement of the Word become flesh ; 
it is spread from mouth to mouth, like human language, 
and like the treasures of speech, descends from: one 
man to another ; if the eye and ear of every one were 
to close, then human speech, and, along with it, hu- 
man thoughts and emotions would perish ; it is the same 
with the word of God, it would be extinct likewise. 

It is entrusted to every Christian, that he should la- 
bor and work diligently for its preservation and exten- 
sion, as a servant of God. All who have received sal- 
vation are to preach the Gospel, though, like Corne- 
lius, it should only be in the circle of their family and 
friends. In the first little assembly of witnesses who 
devoted themselves to the Lord, and first testified of him 
in Judea, and then through all the world, we see an ex- 
ample for each Christian, and for every Christian com- 
munity, to imitate. 

For this reason our Lord set the greatest value on 


PETER’S SERMON. 119 


the public acknowledgment of him, ‘ Whosoever, 
therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I con- 
fess also before my Father which is in heaven ;’ and 
Paul says, ‘If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God 
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, 
Rom. x. 9. ‘ Ye are,’ says Peter in his first Epistle, 1. 
9, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy na- 
tion, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the 
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into 
his marvellous light.’ 


CHAPTER X. 


PETER’S SERMON. 


CHRIST CRUCIFIED AND RISEN AGAIN. 


‘Tue hour is come that the Son of Man should be 
glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn 
of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone ; 
but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit, John xu. 
23, 24. This was said by the Lord Jesus, a short time 
before his sufferings, to Philip and Andrew, when they 
informed him that the Greeks, who had come up to the 
feast at Jerusalem, desired to see him. Our Lord here 
speaks of his own glorification, and of his approaching 
death, the path which led to it; the comparison he 
makes use of is very simple, a daily occurrence in the 
kingdom of nature, which every one knows, but which 
no one comprehends. The corn of wheat falls into the 
ground, dies and decays; and by this means only does 
it bring forth fruit; if we had not known and seen it 
from childhood, it would appear almost impossible that 
out of death a new life should arise; but it is the uni- 
versal law of this earth, and is of daily occurrence. 

The simplicity of the image must not surprise us; 
for, in reality, the growth of the plant from the seed is 
as great a proof of the mysterious influence and power 
of God, as the formation of the human eye, or the 
guiding of the planets through the heavens. The hu- 


a) a eee 

realm 
ee a ‘eee 
%y ” Tae 
4 


PETER’S SERMON. 121 


mility of the comparison shows the humility of him 
who uttered it—the only Son of the Father, the first- 
born of every creature, who, if he had so willed: it, 
might have remained alone in that glory which he had 
from the beginning ; but he divested himself of the form 
of God, and appeared in our sinful mortal body, in or- 
der to save us from sin and from death, and obtain for 
us the freedom of the children of God. The whole life 
of our Lord, and the silent though stupendous act of the 
redemption of the world, resembles the history of a little 
seed of corn. 

In the year that had been predicted, God sent his Son, 
born of a woman;—a manger at Bethlehem was the 
only cradle of the child ; and his birth was made known 
to few, besides the shepherds in ‘the fields, Simeon and 
Hannah in the temple, and the wise men of the East. 
A question of the latter drew down the first storm on the 
head of our Redeemer, which caused the murder of the 
children of Bethlehem and the flight into Egypt. The 
report of the Messiah’s birth now became extinct ; 
though, when Jesus taught in the temple, at the age of 
twelve, his useful glory dawned for a moment in the 
presence of a few. Many years passed over, and still 
nothing remarkable took place—at length stepped for- 
ward Jesus of Nazareth, in the humblest of human 
forms, and announced himself as the long promised 
anointed one of God ; and proved himself to be a pro- 
phet, mighty in word and deed. The people were as- 
tonished and wondered at his miracles, but few believ- 
ed on him,—the high priests and rulers, the mighty and 
holiest, the most wonderful and the most mysterious of 

11 


{22 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


the learned, hated, slandered, and persecuted him, and 
then turned the hearts of the people against him ;. only 
a small number of faithful disciples, both men and wo- 
men, remained attached to him. His enemies triumph- 
ed, he fell into their hands; they condemned, crucified, 
and murdered him. In this manner ended the public 
history of Jesus of Nazareth. 

All this took place in the narrow circle of Judea; a 
land subdued by the Romans, and despised by the 
whole world. Romans crucified him whom the Jews 
had delivered into their hands—he died and was buried 
—but, lo! his death became the means of his glorifica- 
tion. The mightiest of all events was now finished, the 
divine work sealed by the hand of God, spread through 
every land, and the word from the cross penetrated 
through the world, introducing along with it a new 
form of things, and a new life, which are as insepara- 
bly connected with him that was crucified as the dew 
with the morning dawn. 





- Whom they slew and hanged on a tree : him God raised up 
the third day, and shewed him openly ; not to all the people, 
but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did 
eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.’—Acts 
x. 39—41. | | 


Arter the Apostle Peter had interrupted his sermon 
on the sending and anointing of Jesus Christ and his 
life and miracles, by referring to himself and his fellow- 
apostles as eye-witnesses he comes to the greatest and 


PETER’S SERMON. 123 


all manifestations, the ground, the resting point, the very 
corner stone of the Gospel—the crucifixion of our Lord, 
and his resurrection. — 

‘Whom they slew, and hanged on a tree. >There % 1S 
oreat simplicity in those words, which describe so briefly 
that all-important event, which the four Evangelists 
have fully and circumstantially related. They certainly 
describe it as a thing which took place on earth and 
among men; but the Apostles generally speak of it as 
a thing dans finished, and perfected in heaven. The 
four Evangelists, after having described the mighty 
deeds of the Lord, and the various manifestations of his 
glory as the Son of God, give a minute account of his 
shame and ignominy, his suffermgs and his death—as 
the darkest night will sometimes follow the brightest 
day! The historians of our Lord resemble a murror, 

“which gives a faithful picture of the surrounding objects 
—the heart of John, however, does sometimes interrupt 
his recital; when he is moved by his own description 
of that glory which perpetually hovered over our Lord 
even in the midst of his sufferings. 

In the beginning of his sermon Peter follows the ex- 
ample of the Evangelists—his words may be rendered 
thus: Jesus of Nazareth is he, concerning whom God 
sent his word, from age to age, to the children of Israel ; 
preaching peace through him as Lord of all. The ful- 
filment of the word of the prophecy began from Galilee, 
after the baptism which John preached and published 
through the whole land of Judea,—anointed by the 
Holy Ghost and with power, our Lord went about doing 
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil ; 


124 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


and in this manner he proved himself, by his actions 
and doctrine, by his word and miracles, to be the holy 
one of God. Our Apostle comprehends all in that most 
significant sentence: ‘ For God was with him, and we 
are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land 
of the Jews and at Jerusalem; whom they slew and 
hanged ona tree.’ 

Who did this?. The children of Israel, to veblins he. 
had been promised, whose fathers had looked for him 
with the most ardent and longing desire-—the men 
who had seen and admired his divine power and mira- 
cles, who had beheld his wisdom and his holiness, his 
gentleness and humility, his love and benevolence— 
whose salvation and redemption he had so earnestly de- 
sired, and on whom he had heaped his blessings—Him 
they accused as a blasphemer of God; and, as a rebel 
and a murderer, they. crucified and ilove him! And 
who was he whom they slew? The same Jesus who 
testified of himself that he is the Son of God, the light 
of the world, the resurrection and the life, one with the 
Father, and sent by him for the salvation of the world, 
the truth of whose words were proved by innumerable 
deeds of almighty power and love—whom the storm 
and the waves obeyed,—who made the blind to see, and 
who recalled the dead to life. He, the holy and righte- 
ous One, in whose mouth deceit was never found, whom 
no man could accuse of sin, he was slain and hanged 
on a tree. What a difference there is between the 
words of our Apostle, ‘ For God was with him,’ and the 
cry of our crucified Lord himself, ‘ mys God, my God, 

why hast thou forsaken me?” 


PETER’S SERMON. 125 


How astonishing and incomprehensible, nay even im- 
possible, all this would appear if we had not heard it 
from our youth upwards, and were as familiar with the 
cross of Jesus of Nazareth as with the sun in the heay- 
ens! But we know that it thus happened, for Peter 
loudly and openly proclaimed it at Jerusalem, in the 
very face of his enemies and murderers. ‘Whom ye 
delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, 
when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied 
the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to 
be granted unto you; and lalled the Prince of Life.’ 
Acts i. 13—15. " 

This is the simple recital of that which took place it in 
Jerusalem and on Golgotha about eighteen hundred 
years ago; this is the circumstance from which all the 
Apostles and Evangelists, in their discourses, proceed, 
and to which they are perpetually recurring. Of this 
Paul says, in 1 Cor. il. 2, ‘ For I determined not to know 
any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him cru- 
cified.’ The crucifixion of our Lord is still crying unto 
heaven; it is the most ruthless act ever committed by 
men, and the most terrible proof of the natural guilt of 
the human heart, as well as the darkest and most mys- 
terious veiling of the hand of God in his government of 
the world, ‘ Him, being delivered by the determinate 
council and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and 
by wicked hands have crucified and slain; Acts ii. 23, 
—it is the deepest humiliation and forbearance of that 
being who had, in himself, the power of life and death, 
but who yet permitted himself to be led as a lamb to 
the slaughter! Yes, even to death on the cross. Is it 

i 


126 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


wonderful that when this happened, even those disci- — 
ples who had seen his glory should be seized with fear 
and trembling, should flee away and forsake him, or 
that, even to the present hour, the word of the cross has 
been to so many a cause of offence and a stumbling 
block ? But, in the very circumstance, that the cruci- 
fixion of our Lord is utterly at variance with human 
feelings, thoughts, and expectations, lies the proof that 
it is divine, and that Jesus, the crucified One, is the 
Christ, the Savior of mankind, the Son of God, who 
came into the world to save sinners. 

- With the death of our Lord on the cross Bis earthly 
history was closed, and that work was perfected for 
which he appeared in the flesh. He himself cried out, 
‘It is finished before he bowed his head and gave up 
the ghost,—the words spoken at the gates of Eden 
were now fulfilled,—the old serpent had bruised his 
heel, but he had crushed its head ,—the consoling pro- 
phecies of ancient times, in which God had promised to 
the fathers a Mediator, 2 Redeemer, and an everlasting 
King, were now accomplished. That one true sacrifice, 
of which all the forraer sacrifices in the world had been 
symbols, was now perfected, and had ascended up to 
God as a sweet smelling savor. He who came forth 
from the beginning, and who has lived through all eter- 
nity; he, the only begotten of the Father, the bright- 
ness of God’s glory, and the express image of his person, 
who upholds all things by the word of his power; who, 
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on 
the right hand of the Majesty on high, to whom has 
been given all power on earth and in heaven. He has 


PETER’S SERMON: 127 


procured, by the one sacrifice of himself, that all have 
it in their power. to be saved! In order to accomplish 
this, he divested himself of the divine glory, and ap- 
peared in the form of our sinful flesh. He became the 
lamb that bore the sins of the world; and, through his 
blood and the veil of his flesh, he iid procured for us a 
new path and entrance into the heavenly kingdom ;— 
‘He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,— 
he was wounded for our transgressions,—he was bruised 
for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was 
upon him ; and with his stripes we were healed.’ Isaiah 
lui. 4, 5. 

This is the wonderful and mysterious history of the 
sufferings which Christ experienced, and of that glory 
into which he afterwards entered, which the prophets 
longed to behold, and the angels desired to know ! The 
ways of God are as much higher than human thoughts 
and conceptions, as heaven is higher than the earth! 
the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the deepest humiliation, 
and the most perfect condescension of God to men ; and 
for this reason it is the most difficult for the natural man 
to comprehend or believe. In the present day, men 
fancy themselves able to judge of the acts and counsels 
of God, by their reason; and contemplate the sufferings 
and death of our Lord as they would a mere human his- 
tory or event. Others are moved and affected by the 
recital ; lik the daughters of Jerusalem they weep over 
him, but afterwards, because they have heard from 
their youth upwards that all this was done for them, 
they apply it to suit themselves, and for their-own pecu- 
liar advantage. This is not the method of the Apos- 


128 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


tles, nor yet of the faithful believers in all ages,—they 
did not look merely at Golgotha, they did not think 
only of themselves, but, enlightened by the Spirit of the 
Lord, and filled with humility on account of the deep 
corruption of their hearts, they looked upwards with 
living faith to the exceeding richness of the grace and 
love of God, who ‘ spared not his own Son, but deliver- 
ed him up for us all.’ Rom. viii. 32. The crucifixion of 
our Lord is the most striking proof of the enmity of man 
towards God, of the complete deterioration of his na- 
ture, and his utter estrangement from om heavenly 
Father. 

In the third chapter of the Acts, Peter says, ‘ through 
ignorance, ye have slain the Prince of Life,-—that is to 
say, blinded by their own prejudices, they put to death 
the incarnate God, prompted by the same spirit which 
led them in former days to resist Jehovah, and bow to 
those idols which the rest of mankind had long revered, 
and they now rejoiced because they had succeeded in 
crucifying Jesus, mocking him while hanging on the 
tree. In this the depravity of man was manifested in 
its darkest and most odious aspect; but at the same 
time the love of God was exemplified in its clearest and 
most brilliant light. Alas! we must all, without ex- 
ception, confess, that we have nailed the Lord of Glory 
to the cross,.and that for our sakes he was crucified and 
slain ! 

‘On a tree’—are the words of Peter in his sermon. 
He who knew so well from his own bitter experience, 
both the corruption of the human heart, and the temp- 
tions of Satan, now looked back to that tree, where the 


PETER’S SERMON. >». 129 


virtue of man was first overpowered by his desire to be 
asa god. The garden of Eden, and the garden of Geth- 
semane, the pleasant tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, and the wood of the cross‘on Mount Calvary, cer- 
tainly stand in most intimate connection. Oh! man 
look into thyself! Thou who wast created in the image 
of God, and animated by his breath! How much dost 
thou still preserve the likeness of thy Creator, who is 
love itself? Is love towards him who alone is worthy 
the foundation and groundwork of thy character ? Com- 
pare thyself for one moment with the Son of Man who 
died on the cross, and ask thyself, how much of his 
faith and obedience, his humility, patience and long suf- 
fering, his purity, benevolence, and love, thou preserv- 
est in thy heart ? Compare the immortality engraved in 
imperishable characters on thy soul with the short and 
insecure duration of thy earthly pilgrimage. Place thy- 
self in spirit on the bed of death, behold the struggle 
which awaits thee, and listen to those sighs and groans, 
the powerless expression of the sufferings thou must in- 
evitably undergo! Watch thyself gradually sinking on 
_ the dark bosom of all-ingulfing chaos, and follow thy 
soul flying to the lightning splendor of the throne of 
God, and the terribleness of an eternity of judgment! 
Canst thou then say, ‘I am pure in my heart, and free 
from sin, thereby giving the lie both to thine own 
conscience and the word of God, which sets before thee 
thy sinfulness and the loss of thy primeval excellence ? 

If thou art thus utterly fallen in the abyss of thy ali- 
enation from God, and the depth of thy sin and misery ; 
then, like one who, in a deep pit at mid-day, does not 


130 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


behold the sun shining but only the stars glimmering in 
the heavens; so shalt thou, by the eye of faith, discern 
the cross of the Son of God through the midst of his 
heavenly splendor; and in the Lamb which was slain, — 
recognise thy Lord and the pledge of thy salvation. 
For God ‘ hath made him to be sin for us, who knew 
no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of 
God in him.’ 2 Cor. v. 21,—and ‘ Christ hath redeem- 
ed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for 
us, Gal. ii. 13. Who can comprehend the length and 
the breadth, the depth and the height of the love of God, 
which passeth all understanding, in that he sent his 
only Son to die for sinners! God is manifested here, 
and Christ also, who died for us; and, what is of far 
more importance to us, who was raised up again from 
the dead ! 

‘ Him God raised up the third fy, and shewed him 
openly ;—for it was impossible, our Apostle says, in 
his sermon at the -feast of Pentecost, that he should be 
held by the bonds of death. | 

After he had finished the work which was given lee 
by the Father, perfected it, and glorified the Father be- 
fore the world, but more visibly bplion’ those who had 
eaten and drunken with him, and were afterwards to 
preach the gospel to all men, on the third day, as he 
had prophesied, he arose from the dead, ‘ declared to be 
the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of 
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,’ Rom. i. 4. 
He died for our sins, but rose again for our justification. 
Our death the wages of sin, has become the death of 
the Prince of Peace, who knew no sin; by his means 


' PETER’S SERMON. 131 


the power of death has been taken from the devil, and 
our dissolution is no longer the recompense of our sins, 
but the means of freeing ourselves from them, and en- 
tering into eternal life. The resurrection of the Son of 
Man from the dead, is the visible pledge of the future 
resurrection of all the children of men; and shows the 
new and incorruptible form in which the human body, 
after experiencing the usual course of decay, shall rise 
again and be glorified. ‘For, as in Adam all die, even 
so in Christ shall all be made alive,’ this corruptible 
shall become incorruptible, and this mortal shall put on 
immortality. The indestructible germ of a spiritual 
body hes concealed in our natural one, and, though op- 
posed by our earthly nature, it is never destroyed, for it 
is of divine origin. ‘ Howbeit, Paul says, ‘ that was 
not first, which is spiritual, but that which is natural, 
and afterward that which is spiritual,’ 1 Cor. xv. 46. 

As we are now born inthe likeness of the earthly 
Adam, so we shall afterwards be formed in the image 
of the heavenly Son of Man. He will glorify our 
worthless body, the body of humiliation, that it may be- 
come like unto his body—the Prince of Peace, who was 
slain and is now alive, shall do this—the author and 
finisher of our faith, who has the keys of hell and of 
death. Then shall the triumphant song of the blessed 
resound. through heaven, death is destroyed for ever, 
‘O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy 
victory? But thanks be to God which giveth us the 
victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 1 Cor. xv. 55, 
57. What a glorious Gospel! and what a joyful in- 
telligence, full of grace and truth! O that one were in- 
spired, in order to express it adequately ! 


132 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


The mighty act of God im the resurrection of the 
Lord Jesus, was visibly manifested to his believing dis- 

ciples, and to them alone. God showed him openly | 
‘ not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before 
of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him, 
after he rose from the dead.’ verse 41st. ‘To whom 
also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many — 
infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and 
speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of 
God.’ Actsi. 3. But this grace and blessing were 
only vouchsafed to his disciples and those who had be- 
heved on him; not to the rest of the people who had 
refused to receive him. They who had rejected him, 
were neither worthy nor capable of beholding the glory | 
of his resurrection ; they were unworthy, because their 
eyes were closed, and their hearts were hardened, so 
that they. could not comprehend the truth, especially 
those whom he had approached as a friend, ‘but who 
had rejected him as an enemy.: It would, besides, have 
been useless for our Lord to show himself unto them ; 
they would have refused his testimony. no less than be- 
fore, and only have increased the measure of their 
guilt and sinfulness. They were also incapable of be- 
holding Jesus risen ‘from the dead ; their deceitful eyes 
and impure hearts could neither discern what was hea- 
venly nor recognise the glory of God. Can a dog 
_ admire the beautiful liles in the fields, or enjoy the 
song of the nightingale? Before men can appreciate 
what is spiritual and Divine, the scales must be re- 
moved from their eyes, by means of repentance and 
faith. The great work of the resurrection of Christ — 


PETER’S SERMON. 133 


did not take place merely that mankind might admire 
it; all the mighty acts of God have been done in 
silos for the Lord dwells in the thick clouds, and 
cometh forth in the soft breeze. It was impossible to 
behold the resurrection and glorification of our Lord, 
without having previously believed in him as the Son of 
God, from having witnessed his incarnation and the 
sacrifice he offered on the cross; and it was as a re- 
ward for having followed him during his humiliation 
that the disciples now beheld his exaltation. Here we 
may quote the words of Jesus himself: ‘Tam the light 
of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in 
darkness, but shall have the light of life,’ John viii. 12 ; 
and again, ‘ He that believeth on the Son hath ever- 
lasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall 
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him,’ 
John ii. 36. And Paul says, ‘No man can say 
that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,’ 1 Cor. 
xii. 3. 

Why was it that the disciples only, who had lived in 
intimate fellowship with our Lord during his three 
years’ ministry, and who had loved him as children 
love a father—why was it that they alone were es- 
teemed worthy to behold his resurrection and glory ? 
Why was this inestimable privilege vouchsafed to 
them? Were they already those Princes in the king- 
dom of heaven which it was promised they should after- 
wards become? Were they no longer, spiritually 
speaking, babes and children, but men and fathers nm 
faith and in truth? Not so, they were awanting, and 
fell short in many respects; they were not free from 


134 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


disquietude, fear, and doubt ; and they had no hope of 
the resurrection from the dead of their Lord and Mas- 
ter. But they were simple in heart and mind, and un- 
corrupted by the false wisdom of the Scribes and Pha- 
risees, for they had been almost all born and educated 
in Galilee ; and they were pure vessels, in whom the 
desire for the promised redemption had never become 
extinct. Therefore, the grace of God, which feeds the 
young ravens when they cry, led those unsophisticated 
souls to the path of salvation ; they found Jesus of 
Nazareth again after he had san dead and was buried ; 
they came and saw him, they bound themselves to “em 
more closely, if possible, than before, so that they never 
should forsake him ; and the Lord, who could see their 
inmost hearts, revealed those things unto them which 
he had concealed from the wise and prudent ; told 
them that their names were written in heaven, and 
bade them rejoice in these words, ‘ Blessed are the 
eyes which see the things that ye see ; for I tell you, 
that many prophets and kings have desired to see 
those things which ye see, and have not seen them ; 
and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not 
heard them.’—Luke x. 23, 24. 

After the Sun of Righteousness had risen upon them, 
through its influence the little seed of corn grew up 
silently, but gradually, in their hearts, until they be- 
came plants of God, and trees of righteousness, well. 
pleasing unto the Lord. They, whom Jesus had 
chosen, were esteemed worthy of beholding the glory 
of God, manifested in the glorification of his Son, and 
to bear their testimony to the truth of his death and re- 
surrection. — 


PETER’S SERMON. 135 


This they did in the fullest manner;—they preached 
Christ the crucified and risen again, to every creature, 
with unutterable joy, boldness and self-denial ; and be- 
came instruments in the hands of the Holy Spirit, to 
give the world a new form, and to impart to the faith- 
ful of all nations a new life. By their means, that 
cross which, on Golgotha, had witnessed the sufferings 
of the Son of Man, and which was the very disgrace 
of humanity, was now raised up before the whole 
world as the victorious banner of light and truth, the 
tree of eternal life; and spread out its arms ‘to give 
peace and joy to the weary and heavy laden, to console 
the afflicted, and to point out to every pilgrim the path 
toward his heavenly home! That word of salvation 
which proceeded from God, and which was first an- 
nounced by the witnesses and messengers of Christ, has 

since spread farther and farther through the whole 
world, and calls to overy one, ‘ Be reconciled to God 
‘ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear! P 


CHAPTER XI. 


& 
PETER’S SERMON. 
CHRIST ORDAINED TO BE THE JUDGE OF QUICK AND DEAD. ©» 


‘Ir is appointed unto men once to die, but after this 
the judgment.’ Heb. ix. 27. In our own souls there 
is a secret and mysterious voice, which is constantly 
judging us—it is ‘the law written in our hearts; 
our conscience bearing witness; our thoughts the 
meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another,’ 
Rom. u. 15.. Our own heart condemns us, and we 
can as little repress this action of the spiritual heart, as 
we. can, by an effort of the will, control the motion of 
the corporeal one. This law written within us, or this 
conscience, is in reality the Eternal Word, which is 
even now concealed in the depths of our soul, and 
which, though we can at times lull it to silence,. we 
can never altogether destroy ; for it is destined to be 
the origin of repentance in sinful man, and to awaken 
in him a sense of what is holy and Divine ; but it has 
a duty to perform still more terrible, for it begins in 
man the eternal judgment, even while he is an inhabit- 
ant of earth. Our first parents, after their fall, judged 
themselves before the sentence of God was passed over 
them. The Divine and everlasting Word is unspeak- 
ably near to man, Oh! that he would heiens to it now 
: while it is called to-day.’ 


PETER’S SERMON. u 137 


After death comes the other judgment : as certainly 
as man must die he must be judged; then shall that 
word which was concealed upon earth, stand forth 
openly, and pronounce its verdict on his past life of 
trial, which now lies clearly displayed before him ; the 
counsel of God shall now be manifested ; that which 
was hidden shall be brought to light, weld the Lord 
shall appoint to every one his future condition and 
place of abode. But the Holy Scriptures inform us of 
another judgment, in which that Christ, who was once 
offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear the second 
time unto them that look for him, without sin unto 
salvation. Happy are all they who belong to this 
number ! 





‘And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to 
testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the 
judge of quick and dead.’—<Acts x. 32. 


Hitherto the Apostle had spoken of the sending and 
anointing of Jesus of Nazareth, of his public teaching, 
his actions and his miracles, of his sufferings, death and 
resurrection ; and of those signs and tokens. of the 
kingdom of heaven, by which Jesus had manifested 

himself as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. 

The Apostle now speaks of a future manifestation of 

the Son of Man, as the judge appointed by God to pro- 

nounce sentence both on the quick and the dead. This 

must indeed be a most important truth, sce Peter so 

expressly states that the Apostles were appointed to 
12* 


138 CORNELIUS. THE CENTURION. 


preach and testify it to all people. In all their wnit- 
ings they bear witness to the appearance of the Son of 
God in the flesh, and foretell his return to judgment and 
the manifestation of his glory.. Paul himself, while 
preaching to the people at Athens, concludes his ser- 
mon with the announcement of the day of judgment, 
when all the world-should be judged in righteousness 
by one man, Jesus Christ, ‘ ordained of God to be the 
judge of quick and dead.’ Let this be the subject of 
our contemplation at present. ) 

God the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is, as the Bible teaches 
us, ‘ Judge of all,’ Heb, xii, 23; but he himself says, 
that ‘the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed 
all judgment unto the Son. And hath given him au- 
thority to execute judgment-also, because he is the Son 
of Man.’ John v. 22, 27. And Paul says, ‘ He hath 
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world 
m righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained.’ 
Acts xvi. 31. 

Our Apostle also refers to this universal judgment, 
which is to take place after the resurrection of the dead 
at the last day, which the Scripture calls ‘the day of © 
Christ, or ‘the day of the Lord.’ This judgment shal] 
be the visible ending or completion of God’s mighty 
work of salvation; and, at the same time, the highest 
and most stupendous manifestation of the exaltation and 
glory of the Son of Man. He is the Alpha and Omega, 
the beginning and the end,—as certainly as he has al- 
ready come, he shall come again—for how should he 
to whom the kingdom has been given, and who has ex- 


PETER’S SERMON. 139 


isted from all eternity, begin and not conclude, com- 
mence and not accomplish? The last judgment shall 
finish the great work of salvation, for it is the third and 
last scene in’ God’s government of the world. 

The first scene took place in lowliness and abase- 
ment. As a man casts seed into the ground, then goes 
away and leaves it for many long days and nights, un- 
til it begin to spring up—so the word of salvation lay 
for more than a thousand years of night and twilight, 
concealed in mysterious promises, symbols, images, and 
prophecies, in which the great and the little, the earth- 
ly and the heavenly, the mean and the glorious, were 
most wonderfully blended. After the fulness of time 
had arrived, the word became dead, and the images and 
shadows took form and substance at Bethlehem, the 

least. among the thousands of Judah. The day dawned, 
~ God sent his Son, born of a woman; the Word which 
was from the beginning, by whom all things were 
made, and without whom nothing was made that was 
made, became man—divested himself of the form of 
God and assumed our human body—went about the 
land of Israel, not that others might serve him, but in or- 
der to serve others—gave his life as a ransom for the sins 
of the whole world,—and by his humiliation, even to 
death on the cross, became the perfect way, the fulness 
of truth, and the everlasting life. When Jesus, at the 
moment of his dissolution, cried out, ‘It is finished 
then that took place which had been willed by God 
through all eternity, and the’hitherto mysterious and 
inexplicable counsel of Jehovah now took the form of 
a simple human history, for it was accomplished. ‘Jesus 


140 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for. ever,’ 
Heb. xi. 8.—The first four thousand years of the 
world’s history are ‘ the yesterday which is past.’ The 
to-day began with the exaltation of him who had abas- 
ed himself. After he had risen from the dead on the 
third day, he continued on earth during the period of 
forty days, and then returned into that glory which he 
had from the beginning, ascending into heaven before 
the eyes of his disciples. Thus the word which had 
begun in silence, and before a few witnesses, now re- 
turned to the place whence it had sprung, to heaven 
and to eternity. The gospel of reconciliation had been 
preached among the children of men, and the regenera- 
tion of the world now began, in Jerusalem, at the feast 
of Pentecost—The Holy Spirit descended upon the 
Apostles, with a sound from heaven as of a rushing 
mighty wind, and this in the presence of devout men 
out of every nation under heaven. The disciples were 
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with 
other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, and 
the listeners were astonished, because they heard them 
speak in their own tongues, the wonderful works of 
God. These miracles were the continuation of the his- 
tory of Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified but now risen 
Lord. When they heard this, three thousand were 
touched in their hearts and believed; they gladly re- 
ceived the word, and were batineteniand now the gos- 
pel is spreading through every land, and penetrating to 
every quarter of the world, and its ministers are pray- 
ing and admonishing all: ‘ Be ye reconciled to God! 
The present time is the to-day, the second period of 


PETER’S SERMON. 141 


God’s government. Is it yet at an end? Does every 
knee bow at the name of. the crucified One? Does 
every tongue acknowledge that; he is Lord? No! 
another day of God is before us: ‘This same Jesus 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come 
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven,’ 
were the words of the two men in white apparel : ‘ Be- 
hold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see 
_ him,’ surrounded by his saints, and wonderful in his 
glory. And -Paul says, ‘For to this end Christ both 
died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both 
of the dead and the living,’ Rom. xiv. 9. This is the 
day of judgment, the harvest time of the Lord, when he 
shall send forth his reapers. : 

Then shall Jesus the Mediator, appear, ¢ as the one 
appointed of God to judge both the quick and the dead. 
All those men who have lived and died upon earth ; all 
those who are living at present and shall die, as well 
as those whom the great day of the Lord finds in exist- 
ence, shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ. 
The general resurrection must take place, and they who 
are in their graves, whose bodies have mouldered into 
dust, shall, like Lazarus, hear his voice and come forth. 

As it was impossible that the smless body of Jesus 
Christ should remain in the grave longer than three 
days, or that the Holy One should see corruption—so it 
is impossible that our bodies, which had been made 
corruptible by sin, should remain for ever in the grave 
—the hour must come when they will arise from the 
dead, and assume a new and an incorruptible form. In 
that day, the voice of the Son of Man shall change 


142 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


those who are still alive, and awaken from its sleep, 
and bring to light that portion of the divine nature, 
which God. implanted, when he breathed- into man’s 
nostrils the breath of life; and which, though long 
crushed and repressed, could never be annihilated. 
There shall also be summoned forth in a new and incor- 
ruptible form, those bodies that are asleep, which God. 
at the beginning created immortal, and which had only 
- undergone the usual course of decay, because they were 
under the power of sin. All this shall be done ‘ ae- 
cording to the working, whereby he is able even to 
subdue all things unto himself.’ . Phil. ii. 21. Were 
this not to be the case, for what purpose should the 
Son of Man have clothed himself with our sinful and 
mortal flesh? And since he has won back for us all 
that we have lost through sin, must he not also restore 
to us our immortal bodies? Unless he do so, he can- 
not be the heavenly Adam, or the Lord of life,—unless 
he do so, he cannot have freed us entirely from the 
fruits of sin, death, and corruption. Therefore shall 
all the dead be clothed with a new body, and they 
which are alive at that day shall be changed: ‘ For 
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and _ this 
mortal must put on immortality. 1 Cor. xv. 53. 

Thus shall the great day of the Lord commence— 
and as, after the creation of our earth, the first day 
began with the separation of light from darkness,—so 
shall the last day, the end of earthly time, conclude in 
the same manner, with the separation of light from — 
‘darkness—of the good from the bad! Human lan- 
guage can only give a faint idea of this fearful reality, 


PETER’S SERMON. 143 


and is like a dew-drop reflecting the image of the 
sun. 

Our Lord no where condescends more to our human 
weakness, than when speaking of that which is great 
and incomprehensible—but particularly in alluding to 
the future day of judgment. He, the judge of all, in 
speaking of his return to judge the world, when he shall 
sit upon the throne of his glory, calls himself ‘the Son 
of Man,’ his name during his humiliation, and by which 
his disciples had known him during his pilgrimage on 
earth. He compares himself also, at the beginning of 
his magnificent description of the judgment of the 
world, to a shepherd dividing the sheep from the goats ; 
and it is not until he pronounces the final sentence that 
he calls himself a King! 

He also honors the assembled children of men, by 
making known to them the grounds of their acceptance 
or condemnation—and also deigns to listen to their re- 
ply, as he did when a sojourner here below. He thus 
recognises, even in those condemned to eternal punish- 
ment, their lost but once God-like nature. — 

What shall be the measure and rule by which he 
shall judge mankind? It shall be love, which is the 
fulfilment of the law ; but why should it not be faith ? 
Most needless separation ; is not love the fruit of faith ? 
and does not our life animate the different parts of the 
same tree, whether it be the root, the stem, or the fruit? 
When the grape is full, is it not a proof that the vine 
has been full of sap ?. And when the reaper cuts the 
harvest, does he not leave the roots in the earth, and 
carry the ears of corn into his granary? Therefore 


144 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


man shall be judged by his fruits. Faith, hope, and 
love, these three are one; they remain together, and 
shall be glorified together; but love is the greatest _ 
among them. Yes, he, the Son of Man, shall then be 
our judge; but love shall be the standard, according to 
which he shall pronounce judgment.» Ihave been hun- 
gry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison, in 
order to save, redeem, and console you, who were hun- 
ery, thirsty, poor, and miserable! And he who has 
loved, saved, or comforted the least of my brethren, has 
acknowledged me and experienced my love! All the 
children of men, they who, with humble joy, shall stand 
at his right hand, and they who, in fear and trembling, 
are placed at his left, shall recognise in him, the man 
whom God had ordained to judge the world in right- 
eousness. 

All ‘shall come forth; they that have done good 
unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done 
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation,’ John v. 29. 
‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of 
Christ, that every one may receive the things done in 
his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be 
good or bad,’ 2 Cor. v. 10. The Apostle Paul says, in 
speaking of the resurrection of the dead, ‘ and that 
which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall 
be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some 
other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased 
him, and to every seed his own body. So also is the 
resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is 
raised in incorruption: it is sown a natural body, it is 
raised a spiritual body,’ 1 Cor. xv. 37, 38, 42, 44. 


PETER’S SERMON. | 145 


The Creator has everywhere shadowed forth in the 
outward form of inanimate nature, a secret and mysteri- 
ous meaning ; and we may in many respects consider 
the appearances around us, as images and symbols of a 
future and invisible world.. Thus, there are certain 
creatures, whose very aspects fill us with terror, as if 
they were the living pictures of sin and condemnation. 
That which man was, while he walked in his earthly 
body, shall be shown by the form he assumes at his 
resurrection. The just shall become like the angels, 
and shine like the sun,—the unjust, on the contrary, 
shall not have the beautiful and radiant angelic form ; 
but their countenances which, like Cain’s during their 
residence on earth, depicted envy, malice, and unchari- 
tableness, shall much more. now bear the mark of Cain 
on the forehead. 

The resurrection of the dead to judgment is the great 
truth, which the Lord Jesus commanded his disciples to 
preach and testify to all people; after he had himself 
announced it, even in the very presence of those judges 
who condemned him to death. They have faithfully 
fulfilled this command, and preached the gospel of 
judgment as well as of reconciliation, from the. house 
tops and in the market places ; in the schools and before 
the people; in the halls of the great, and in the cot- 
tages of the poor ; it has been proclaimed to the whole 
world, and is even now spreading through every land. 
If this Gospel, in the more serious hours of our life, and 
above all, at the hour of death, appear great and terri- 
ble, how much more shall it appear so, when it shall be 
announced by the heavenly trumpet at the great day of 

13 3 


146 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


the Lord! Then shall the truth, the holiness and 
righteousness of the great God towards the children.of 
‘men, be clearly manifested in the presence of the assem- 
bled hosts of heaven. As the sun touches with its rays 
and illuminates the most insignificant blade of grass, so 
the light which proceeds from the throne of God, and 
the all-piercing eye of the.eternal judge, shall shine 
upon and penetrate the inmost character of every one, 
and disclose the secrets of every heart!- Who shall 
stand in that day before the Son of Man ! 

Oh! how consoling is it for those that have Lciveal 
him, to think that our Redeemer, the now glorified Son 
‘of Man, shall be our judge! He who has dwelt upon 
earth, and who became like us in all things, with the 
exception of our sinfulness; who was tempted in all 
respects as we are, and os as a merciful High Priest, 
hath compassion on our infirmities; who was well 
pleased when the widow cast her two.mites into the 
treasury, and took pity on the necessity of the Canaani- 
tish woman, and praised her humble faith, who. pro 
mised he would not forget, even a cup of cold water . 
given to one of his disciples, if it were done from love 
toward himself. He is ordained by God to be the judge, 
both of the quick and the dead! The unalterable com- 
passion and fatherly tenderness of God, whereby he 
chose us through Christ, and loved us before the founda- 
tions of the world were laid, still continues and shall 
continue unchanged until the end of the world, and the 
commencement of the great Sabbath of eternity! He 
who was once our brother shall become our judge ; the 
author and the finisher of our faith, and of our happiness. 


PETER’S SERMON. 147 


The now glorified Jesus shall appear in the majesty 
of his power, to judge all the earth in nghteousness. 
No more shall he come as the supplicating and beseech- 
ing shepherd, but he shall appear as a king, as the 
crown and perfection of humanity, to judge both the 
quick and the dead! He shall be seen by all the races 
of men; and the counsels and decrees of God shall be 
visibly displayed before every eye. ‘ Forif we sin wil- 
fully, after that we have received the knowledge of the 
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a 
certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indig- 
nation, which shall devourthe adversaries,’ Heb. x. 26, 
27. The Lord shall ask us then,as he once asked Peter 
‘ Lovest thou me? and happy shall it be for those who 
can answer him joyfully and confidently, ‘Lord, thou 
knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.’ 
Blessed are all those who shall then he found worthy to 
stand before the Son of Man! 


CHAPTER XII. 


PETER’S- SERMON. 


REMISSION OF SINS TIIROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST. 


‘Ir we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 
arid the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness,’ 1 John i. 8,9. The Apostle 
describes the knowledge and the confession of our:sins, 
as the tree and its fruits ; the first and necessary condi- 
tion, by which we obtain from God forgiveness of sin. | 
If a man wish to destroy a weed, he must first pull the 
root out of the earth, and bring to the light. ‘ When 
I kept silence,’ says. David, ‘my bones waxed old, 
through my roaring all the day long. For day and 
night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is 
turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my 
sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said, 
I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and 
thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” Psalm xxxii. 3, 
4,5.. How can a child that has grieved his father and 
mother remove the oppression and sorrow from his own — 
heart, unless he confess his error to those beloved pa- 
rents? And how should a sick'man apply to a physi- 
cian, if he does not know that he issick? In that case 
he will feel no need of the physician, despise the art of 


PETER’S SERMON. 149 


medicine, and take no measure for being healed. Here ~ 
we may quote the words, ‘ Because thou sayest, I am 
rich and increased with goods, and have need of no- 
_ thing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and — 
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’ 

It is a fearful error to make God himself a liar ! 
It was not thus Cornelius acted ; truth was in him, and 
he: knew that he was a sinful man, and that internal 
peace was awanting. He sought this peace by fasting 
and prayer, by giving alms and by good works. .The 
people in Cesarea said, ‘ the Centurion Cornelius is a 
good, a noble, a pious, and an excellent'man! ~But 
he himself said, ‘I am a poor sinful man! God be 
merciful unto me.’ Then the Lord sent him his faith- 
ful sérvant Peter, and Cornelius received that which he 
had sought for with nis whole heart, forgiveness of sins, 
- righteousness, and the grace and peace of .God’through 
Jesus Christ. Happy are they who are poor in spirit, 
for the riches of the kingdom of heaven shall be theirs. 
Cornelius stands before us as a picture of mankind, 
sighine and longing for the peace of the children of 
God; he is also a picture of those who, having ear- 
“ilsity sought, have at last obtained mr costly trea- 
sure. 





‘ To him give all the prophets witness, that. through his name, 
- whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.’ 
Acts x. 43. 


With these words the Apostle aiincheden his acmnan 
13* 


150 . CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


and testimony of Jesus Christ. The Apostolic style 

consists of using few words, but those few having a 
most comprehensive meaning. Thus Peter includes in 
this simple sentence the substance of all he had hither- 
to spoken, of the Lord and his appearance.on earth— 
of the object and aim of his gospel and preaching. 
This expression of our Apostle contains three different » 
heads or ideas :—First, by Jesus Christ alone can sin- 
ful man receive salvation, peace with God, and eter- 
nal hapiness :—Second, the world had for ages longed 
for salvation and for a Savior, and prophecy had pro- 
mised him .and testified of him :—Lastly, he has now 
appeared, and all who believe on him shall receive 
through him forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Let-us 
first consider salvation through Jesus Christ, then the 
promise, the expectation, and the appearance.of this 
salvation; and astly,'all that 1 is obtained by means of 
faith. 

Forgiveness of sins,;—is the only thing eotnd by the 
Apostle, because it expresses all that salvation which 
we have obtained through the Sending of the Son.of 
God. Certainly the forgiveness of sins is, properly 
speaking, only the commencement or dawning of the 
dvine work of regeneration within us ; but if man does 

not resist, the beginning is most assuredly followed by 
the full and perfect accomplishment of it. | 

The new birth begins on the part of man, with the 
acknowledgment of sin ; and forgiveness of sin is the — 
ground and foundation a salyation and eternal life. If 
a sick man wish to recover health, he must first get _ 
that morbid matter removed which is the cause of his 


| -PEITER’S SERMON. 151 


disease. After the good father, mentioned in the gos- 
pel, had clasped in-his arms his erring, but now repent- 
ant son, and had pressed him to his heart, all the rest 
followed of itself; he recerved shoes on his feet, the 
handsomest raiment, and a ring on his finger; the 
fatted calf was slain, and there was singing and danc- 
ing in honor of his return; in short, he enjoyed all a 
son’s privileges and blessings. His past sins and errors 
were annihilated both in the eyes of his father and in 
his own penitent aud grateful heart. When the Lord 
Jesus said to the man sick of the palsy, ‘My son, thy 
sins are forgiven thee, the man then became the son of 
our Savior, he took up his bed and walked. .‘ There- 
fore, being justified by faith, that is to say, freed. from 
the power of sin, ‘we have peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ ; by whom also we have access 
by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and_ rejoice 
in hope of the glory of God,’ Rom. y. 1. Forgiveness 
of sins is followed by the rooting out of all sinfulness 
by the hand of the merciful God, and is the commence- 
ment of a new life. 

‘What is sin?’?—Sin, says the Apostle John, with 
great simplicity, is ‘the transgression of the law.’ It 
is also falling away, erring, and separating from, the 
one right path,—where there is once unholiness there 
is increasing unholiness, always a greater distance from 
the true aim and resting place of the soul; and, unless 
stopped by a higher power, there is a deep and pro- 
gressive fall. Let it be granted, that our earth had an 
understanding anda will of its own, and that it desired 
to leave the path appointed by its Creator round the © 


152 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


sun, and to wander through the immensity of space, left 
to its own' darkness,—what would be the consequence ? 
Tt must infallibly fall into great mischief and danger, 
and soon become again, as it was at first, without form 
and void, and covered with darkness; but if it should at 
last perceive its own evil condition, its first question 
would be, ‘ What must I do to regain my former path ? 
We mortals are like such a planet which has left its 
right course ; we have departed from the only source of 
light and life, and are no longer formed in the image of 
God; we are sinners, and at the same time desirous of 
the poi and dignity of God, which we ought to have, 
but which we have lost. 

Sin is ‘an ungodly state,’ the very opposite of that 
which is divine ; just as lying, darkness, and death, are 
the opposite of trath, light, and life; and in this oppo- 
sition to the character of God lies the most mysterious 
and terrible part of its serpent like nature. It is also'a 
perfect contrast to the true and original human charac- 
ter-—man was not created to imagine that. which “is 
ungodly; but as a strange and unnatural thing it has 
crept into his character. The human mind would in- 
deed be a contradiction and an inexplicable riddle, did 
not the Scriptures give us as clear an explanation of it 
as we either require or can comprehend. Along with 
the image of God, which, in faith and love, ought freely 
to develop itself in the heart of man, we have lost the 
fellowship of our heavenly Father; we have lost hap- 
piness, life, and peace, the original property of our souls, 
and are fallen into the power of sin and of death. * Thus 
we must all acknowledge that sin, in its origin, charac- 


. PETER’S SERMON. 153 


ter, and consequence, is a work of darkness, and the 
only real evil. 

Our ‘salvation can only begin with the feeling and 
acknowledgment of our sinful condition. It is strange 
it should not commence at the present moment with 
every one, since the disunion of their external and in- 
ternal nature lies directly before their eyes, and must 
strike them at once. James says in his Epistle, ‘ For 
what is your life ? it is even a vapor, that appeareth for 
a little time, and then vanisheth away.’ And yet, in 
the very self-consciousness of man, there lies an unan- 
-swerable argument of an immortal existence and an 
endless futurity. Nothing is more certain or natural to 
man than death; and yet he does not believe this, for 
he fears it as though it were unnatural. The pleasures, 
recreations, and embellishments of life, which we call 
enjoyment and diversion, are, if viewed in a proper 
light, merely a flight from death,—and an arduous exer- 
tion to drown the thoughts of the transitory nature of our 
existence. Our life is but a helpless hovermg between 
time, which is always escaping through our fingers, 
and eternity, which surrounds us on every side.-—We 
possess neither the one nor the other.. The vault above 
us consists of a heaven of infinitude; but the clouds of 
death and corruption are perpetually poised over our 
heads. We may describe our existence here as a per- 
petual struggle between life and death ;’ and a prophet 
amongst the Gentiles calls it, ‘ the dream of a shadow ! 

Does not the character of our internal life also bear 
witness to the opposing circumstances in which we are 
placed, and to the corruption and misery of man ? Who 


154 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


is there that will not acknowledge, that innocence and 
purity. of heart, holiness and peace of soul, the light and 
the fellowship of God, are the highest and most desita~ 
ble blessings? ‘Why then do those heavenly flowers 
and fruits not unfold themselves, undisturbed and un- 
hindered, in our characters? -Why is there so much 
disquietude in the short life of man, born of a woman ? 
Why does the flesh lust against the spirit, and the spirit 
against the flesh? And though bound together, why 
are they at variance, so that the good which they will 
they cannot do, but the evil which they will not that ~ 
they do? Why is there a law in our members warring 
with the law in our spirits? And why are we subjected 
to the law of sin ? 

The more clearly we perceive our own unhappy con-. 
dition, the more deeply shall we be ‘able to look into 
the simple law of God, which is love, and prove and 
judge our own characters by it. The law, which is the 
manifestation of the holy will of God, has stepped into | 
the place of his lost fellowship ; it is the divine image, 
now expressed in words, because it had visibly disap- 
peared ; ; itisa justification of God to degenerate man, 
and is like a mirror in which he might behold both 
what he has lost, and what he might have been had he 
remained in the image of God! That law which is 
love, demands love ‘only! Thus sin appears what it 
really is, enmity and rebellion against God; conse- 
quently, the circumstances of the human race would be 
utterly miserable ‘and comfortless, were it not that, in 
the law itself, as well as in the conscience of man, there 
is a sure testimony and pledge that he, the Lord who 


-PETER’ Ss. SERMON. 155 


created us in ree image, shall renew that image, and 
shall free us from all sin and unholiness. But we must 
first say from.our hearts, ‘O wretched man that I am! 
who shall deliver me from-the body of this death ? 

The sentiment which gives rise to this expression, 
although it may be deeply buried and concealed, is to 
be found in the bosom of every human being; on 
which account Paul says, ‘ For we know that the whole 
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until 
now, Rom. vill. 22. The idolatry farthest removed 
from God and the truth, still expresses, although it 
may be darkly and obsturely, the reminiscence of the 
lost paradise and state of blessedness: and a certain 
consciousness of sinfulness is the ground and founda- 
tion of every religion, even though it may have dege- 
nerated into the worship of the devil. | However gro- 
veling it be, its very name implies that it is a seeking 
and a longing for a lost peace and salvation. That 
condemning, yet consolatory word of God, which was 
uttered after the fall to our first parents, with regard 
to the serpent and the seed of the. woman, was inherit- 
ed by all the descendants of Adam, along with their 
human form, and although it may be misunderstood, is 
engraved in the heart of all humanity. . 

Even their idols and images, temples, altars and 
bloody sacrifices, express their conviction of sinfulness 
and misery; their searching for a remedy amidst the 
outward objects which surround them, and. their desire 
for the Savior and Redeemer that should come from 
above to restore to the miserable human race the hap- 
piness which they had lost. 


156 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


Even the heathens had their prophets, who uncon- 
sciously. and against their own will, prophesied like 
Balaam of old, of the one that should come.* It is so 
difficult to destroy entirely the image of God, that we 
may have hopes of the amendment and repentance of 
even the most sinful creature in existence ; from the 
thickest darkness he may be turned to light, and from 
the power of Satan unto God. — 

- That which, in the portion of the world estranged 
from God, was but a groaning on account of their 
miserable condition, and a vague desire of amendment, 
showed itself in the people of God, the race from which’ 
the second Adam was io proceed, as a joyful sound, 
which all that had ears to hear might hear. He who is 
called the ‘ Wonderful, and the Prince of Peace,’ was 
to appear in the land of the East, among the descend- 
ants of Abraham. ‘ Of which salvation the prophets,’ 
during four thousand years, ‘ have inquired and search- 
ed diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should 
come unto you; searching. what, or what manner of 
time, the Spirit of Christ which was ‘in them did sig- 
nify, when it testified before hand the sufferings of 


Christ, and the glory that should follow,’ 1 Peter i 1. 
10, i. 


It is unnecessary to enumerate all the pitphiseteh 3 in 
which the voice of God was heard notifying the day 
which Ahraham desired to behold,—of the day which 
was ‘ to make an end of sins, and ‘to make reconcilia- 
tion for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteous- 


* See Note G. 


PETER’S SERMON. - 157 


ness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to 
anoint the Most Holy,’ Dan. ix. 24. And what has 
been the result of this testimony? He, the Lord our 
strength and righteousness, who rested on the bosom of 
God, and beheld the countenance of our heavenly 
Father,—He, whom the prophets foretold should come 
as our Redeemer and Savior, has come into the world 
to save sinners ! . 

According to promise, the love and grace of God 
were manifested in his Son, ‘ that through his name, 
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of — 
sins,’ and in these words Peter has expressed the most 
joyful truth that sinful man could have heard. This 
work of God’s compassion is called redemption, be- 
cause by its means both the guilt and punishment of 
sin are removed, and man is no longer under the servile 
fear of his Creator; it is called justification, because ~ 
with faith in the name of Jesus, the certainty of pardon 
is closely connected ; it is also called reconciliation, be- 
cause the wall of separation between God and man is 
now taken away, and sinners have free access to the 
grace and fellowship of God, and can now be received 
as his children. 

Jesus Christ the only Mediator between God and 
man, has accomplished this mighty and gracious work ; 
for, although one with God, he became a man, like unto 
us in all things, yet without sin; he subjected himself 
to the law, yielding to it the most perfect obedience ; 
was tempted in all points like as we are; and, in his 
own person, as the second Adam, has sanctified human 
nature; in short, he has borne our guilt, and, out of 

14 


158 CORNELIUS THE. CENTURION. 


free love to our race, has offered up himself a sacrifice 
for us upon the cross.. By this means only, decreed by 
God from all eternity, could his justice be satisfied and 
his mercy be manifested in the forgiveness of sins. 
God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself ; 
he no longer imputes unto them their sins, but vouch- 
safes unto them the word of reconciliation. 

Jesus is the only ground of our salvation and happi- 
ness. As Peter formerly preached in Jerusalem, that 
no other name is given among men whereby they 
might be saved,-so he now declares the name of 
Jesus to be the origin and source of the remission of 
sins. The name of Jesus does not betoken his nature 
and character, but his relation to our sinful’ world: it 
is also the name by which he desires to be acknow- 
ledged in Spirit and in truth. It was given to him at 
his birth, because ‘ he shall save his people from their 
sins.’ The dying Stephen exclaimed, ‘ Lord, Jesus, 
receive my spirit! And the Scriptures inform us, that 
at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. The name 
of Jesus comprehends the great work and office of the 
Son of God in the redemption and salvation of man- 
kind, his mcearnation, his suffering, and his glory; 
while the name of Christ signifies ‘ the Anointed 
One’ promised and sent by God. Peter, in speaking 
of him to Cornelius, calls him by his human name, 
* Jesus of Nazareth.’ 

Oh! what an unspeakable blessing is comprehended 
in this name !—but ‘only to him who ‘wears it in his 
heart,—to whom it has become the watchword of his 
soul, and who can utter it as a pious child would utter 
the name of his father ! 


PETER’S SERMON. 159 


The Apostle says, ‘ ll that believe on him,’ or, 
literally, for the sake of the Gentile Centurion and his 
friends, ‘ whosoever believeth in him shall receive re- 
mission of sins Forgiveness is there; the banner of 
the cross, with mercy inscribed upon it, has been un- 
- furled in the presence of the whole world: the mercy 

seat is accessible to every one; and the Son of Man 
has been raised up before the eyes of the human race, 
like the brazen serpent before the erring Israelites, in 
order that every one may be saved who will approach 
and look upon him with the eyes of faith. As soon as 
the gracious work of God, for the remission of sins, has 
taken place in thee, and the word reconciliation become 
the property of thy heart; then thy sinfulness is done 
away with through repentance and faith, thy misery is 
cured, thy corruption rooted out, and the former dark 
aspect of life and death is illuminated by a light from 
ucaven. Thou art born again into a new life, and a 
new creation is at work in thy soul,—a new creation, 
similar to that first change which took place in the 
hitherto void_and barren earth, when the Spirit of God 
descended npon its chaos,—when light was separated 
from darkness, and the firmament from the waters,— 
when our planet was placed in connection with the sun 
and the stars of heaven,—when the earth and the 
waters brought forth living creatures abundantly— 
and when man was created in the image of God to rule 
over all. 
The new life which begins in thee, as soon as thou 
believest in him whom God has sent, is in no way in- 
ferior to the first creation, for it is also the work of 


& 


160 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


God. It begins by the Divine word and light de- 
scending into the depths of thy soul’s darkness, in order 
to manifest the waste and desert aspect of thy ungodly 
_ character, and the confusion in which both soul and 
body are plung ed, as well as make thee capable and 
worthy of receiving the blessings of thy heavenly Fa- 
ther. But thou resistest the light and the word, be- 
cause they are sharper than a two-edged sword ; and 
because thou must be tried in the furnace Bettie thy 
regeneration from above can be accomplished. 

Ye who, like Nicodemus, though desiring the light, 
are still walking in night and darkness, must first go 
out into the wilderness to the first preacher of repent- 
ance, that through his baptism the old man may be 
destroyed ; and then come, consoled and joyful, unto 
him who is the way, the truth, and the life; for he will 
not reject you, but baptize you with the Holy Spirit, 
and with the pure fire of heaven ! ! 


* 


CHAPTER XIIL 
THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. - i 


Gop is light! and God is love! says the Holy Scrip- 
ture,—thereby expressing, in the simplest manner, the 
highest and most joyful intelligence which could be 
conveyed to man, of the nature and character of God. 
Light and love cannot exist without manifesting them- 
selves, without enlivening, illuminating, and creating 
new light and love; and this is the very essence of 
their character. But what benefit do we derive from 
knowing the nature of God, if we do not feel and ac- 
knowldge both our dependence upon him, and the 
mighty influence he is constantly exerting upon us ? 
The word of truth has assisted us in this, by disclosingy — 
in the mysterious name of Trinity, the three persons of 
the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. _ This re- 
velation of three persons in one God, comprehends the 
whole of Christian doctrine, and is both the foundation 
and the distinguishing characteristic of our faith. Our 
Lord Jesus himself, after his work on earth was per- 
fected, and before he re-ascended to his glory, express- 
ly declared it in the following words, ‘ Go ye, therefore, 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,’ 
Matt. xxviii. 19. 

_ And John says, ‘ There are three that bear record in 

14* 


162 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ; 
and these three are one,’ 1 John v. '7; and, indeed, all 
the Apostles bear witness to the same truth. 

This truth, which it is impossible for human language 
clearly to express, is a mystery which, in its depth of 
meaning, is as far beyond human comprehension as 
heaven is higher than the earth. It is a secret which 
has been in part disclosed to us; and has two aspects, 
one in relation to God, and the other toman. The di- 
vine aspect can as little be understood as the character 
of God can be comprehended ; and happily for us, it 1s 
not necessary for our salvation. “We do not require to — 
know the nature and ‘structure of the sun in order to 
enjoy its light; nor to understand the connection be- 
tween soul and body, in order to believe in their exist- 
ence. The three divine names, ‘ Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost,’ make known to us the whole history of God 
among the children of men; they comprehend the mighty 
deed and manifestations of the love of God, which he 
decreed from the beginning for our salvation; which 
he has begun in time, but which shall be accomplished 
in eternity. | 

In the one living God, we must acknowledge the 
Father, who chose us from all eternity, pre-ordained us 
to be his children, and created us in his own image ;— 
the Son, who became man for our sakes, and, by his 
sufferings and crucifixion, redeemed us from sin and 
death; and the Holy Spirit, who, as the pledge of our 
redemption, sanctifies and renews us in the image of 
God; in short, one God in three persons, to whom we © 
owe three inestimable blessings, election, redemption, 


THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. 163 


and sanctification. The Apostle Paul comprehends all 
in his benediction at the end of 2d Corinthians, ‘ The 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, 
and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you 
all! Amen.’ 

God’s great work of love, in the manifestation of 
himself in the flesh, and in the visible appearance of 
his grace, was accomplished in the pouring out of the 
Holy Spirit; and it is only the power of that Spirit 
which can perfect the heart-felt union of the faithful 
with the Father through the Son. No man can call 
Jesus, Lord, without the Holy Spirit; and this Spirit 
bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children 
of God. This testimony the yar on Comelius was 
now to receive. 


‘While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on 
all them which heard the word. And they of the circum- 
cision which believed were astonished, as many as came 
with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured 
out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak 
with tongues, and magnify God.’—Acts x. 44—46. 


_ 


Tuis section describes the operation and consequen- 
ces, both of the sermon of the Apostle Peter, and of the 
faithful reception of the Gospel by Cornelius, his rela- 
tions and friends. In this simple picture we behold a 
regenerated life in Christ, awakened by the gift of the 
Holy Ghost. 

When Peter had uttered these words, aiid probably, 


164 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


would have continued his sermon, he was interrupted, — 
—it was enough. He had preached the Gospel, and 
the man through whom God had announced peace in 
Jesus, the crucified and risen again; and in his name 
he had promised to all that stains: on him forgiveness 
of sins. 

His own commission was fulfilled; and the wish of 
Cornelius, ‘ to hear words of thee,’ was gratified. Cor- 
nelius and his friends had been deeply moved; they had 
listened to the words of the holy Apostle maith increas- 
ing solemnity and devotion ; and the Lord now opened 
the hearts of the little assembly, who, like Lydia the 
purple-seller, were seeking after peace and truth. The 
Word, the beginning and the instrument of every act of 
God, had, like an immortal seed, taken root in their 
hearts, and now needed only a blessing from above to 
be rendered fruitful by the Holy Spirit. 

We behold here a new feast of Pentecost among the 
heathen, for why should not they also be baptized with 
fire? The time was come when the word of reconcili- 
ation was to spread through the whole world; when 
the wall of partition was to be broken down, the enmi-— 
ty abolished, and the Gospel of peace preached ‘to you 
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.’ This 
was the purpose for which our Lord came, and for the 
accomplishment of which, he promised his disciples to 
send them the Comforter, the invisible representative of 
himself. He was to lead them in the way of truth, 
manifest to them still more clearly the Lord Jesus, and 
give them power and wisdom in the offices to which 
God had called them. In Jerusalem, at the feast of 


THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. 165 


Pentecost, this promise was gloriously fulfilled. The 
Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, in the neighbor- 
hood of Golgotha, and in the presence of the supreme 
council, preached Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified and 
risen one, as the Lord to whom all power is given, both 
in heaven and in earth. And the consequence of this 
wonderful act of the power of God was, that in one 
day about three thousand, and soon afterwards five 
thousand, souls believed and were baptized. In this 
manner the new birth of the world began, by the pow- 
er of the Holy Spirit manifested in the Apostles. The 
Lord was the Spirit, and the Spirit was the Lord. 

The promise of the Holy Ghost was made, not only 
to the disciples who had followed the person of Jesus 
Christ, but to all, far and near, who should repent and 
believe in his name. When Peter and John prayed, 
and laid their hands on those who had received the 
word of God in Samaria, they each received the gift of 
the Holy Spirit; but our Centurion and his household 
were deemed worthy of a peculiar privilege ; for with- 
out prayer, or the laying on of the Apostles’ hands, 
they received the Holy Ghost. Peter himself, when 
blamed by the Jews for preaching to the Gentiles, re- 
lates it in the following words: ‘ As I began to speak, 
the ete Ghost fell on them, as on us, at the begin- 
ning,’ chap. ui. 15. 

' And this beginning, namely, that which took place 
among the disciples at the feast of Pentecost, was the 
same which Cornelius and his friends experienced. 

Here we must take the shoes from off our feet; for 
the place whereon we stand is holy ground, and we are 
surrounded by the mysteries of the house of God, 


166 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


It appears to us that we must not pass over, without 
consideration, the expression, ‘in the beginning,’ which 
the Apostle uses in relating the history of Cornelius. 
We find in our Bible, those words used three times 
over, on different occasions of the deepest interest. They 
commence the Holy Scriptures, ‘ In the beginning God 
created the heaven and the earth.’ The disciple whom 
Jesus loved, uses them to commence his Gospel. And, 
thirdly, the Apostle who preached the first sermon, and 
led the first sheep into his Lord’s fold from amongst the 
_ Gentiles, refers to the great work of God—the pouring 
out of his Holy Spirit upon men. These are the begin- 
nings of the three manifestations of God’s eternal coun- 
sel,—creation, redemption, and sanctification. | 

Every beginning, even those which take place year- 
ly, in the steadily revolving course of nature, is com- 
pletely withdrawn from our gaze—even the first de- - 
velopment of a little seed of corn is concealed both 
- from our eyes and our understanding, and if we try to 
discover it, we are lost in the maze of that invisible 
world from which the seed derives its life. We know 
nothing of the relation of cause and effect, except by 
our own experience, and the outward appearance of 
objects. God alone knoweth all his works, from the 
beginning of the world. 

In nothing does the sinfulness and folly of man, and ~ 
his proud, yet childish character, disclose itself more, than 
in the wish to be, and to know as God; this is the lust of 
the eye, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, 
but of the world. If our minds were not bounded and 
confined by the deceptions of the visible world—and if 


THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. 167 


our characters were composed of the love of God, and of a 
true child-like humility—we would no longer divide na-~ 
ture and miracle, soul and body, the ordinary from: the 
extraordinary gifts and manifestations of God. The sin- 
gle eye turned towards God, would recognize his power 
and grace as clearly-in the customary way in which he 
he sends bread to the earth, as if it pleased him to feed 
five thousand men once more with five loaves. We 
must acknowledge, in both cases, that man receives life 
from heaven, and that the power from above manifests 
itself always in signs and wonders, though we are often 
too blind to appreciate them. | 

‘While the Son of God was an inhabitant of this 
earth, that which he had foretold to Nathaniel hap- 
pened : ‘ Hereafter thou shalt see heaven open, and the 
angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son’ 
of Man.’ The disciples, as well as all the inhabitants 
of Judea, witnessed his miracles, and beheld the proofs 
of his glory with their own eyes. Heavenly signs and 
manifestations belonged as necessarily and naturally to 
that period, as the blossoms of the trees and plants, and 
the song of the lark and nightingale belong to the joy- 
ous spring, the season when God renews the outward 
form of the earth. 

The greatest work of the love of God, which far sur- 
passes human understanding, and which was to become 
the possession and everlasting blessing of all the races 
of men, had taken place in Judea, a narrow and obscure 
corner of the world; the Apostle Peter now related it, 
briefly and simply, and Comeliuis and his household xe- 
ceived it as a Gospel, or, in other words, as good tidings. 


168 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


For this reason the men who proclaimed it among the 
nations, were called Apostles, that is to say, messengers, 
or those sent. The Lord, whose words and miracles 
they were to preach, strengthened them: by his Spirit, 
so that they were enabled to accomplish that divine 
work which he had begun; and, by the power of that 
Spirit, they performed as great, or, according to the 
promise of their Lord, greater works than he himself 
had done. The cause of God and its progress through 
the world, now demand spiritual miracles. 

As the Lord Jesus, in the days of his flesh, had prin- 
cipally and almost exclusively shown his power and 
glory on external objects, and by curing the diseased 
bodies of men; so he, or his Spirit, now manifested 
himself in the interior world, and in the spiritual and 
holy lives of those who believed in him. The scales 
were removed from the spiritual eyes of the Jews and 
Gentiles that were born blind ; and that which our Lord 
had said to the disciples of John, Matt. 11. 5, now took 
place, but in an inverse order. When the poor had the 
Gospel preached unto them, the Jewish and Gentile 
world first awoke from their sleep of death into a new 
life ; the deaf heard the word of truth—the impure were 
purified from.their sins, and walked joyfully in a new 
path—and. last of all, the blind received their sight, 
being illuminated by the perfect light of faith. Those 
disciples and Apostles to whom power had been given 
to work the same miracles as their Lord, and to whom 
even spirits were subject, were the first to experience 
visibly, at Jerusalem, during the feast of Pentecost, the 
manifestations and wonders of the Holy Spirit. These 


THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. 169 


‘showed themselves by many outward signs, but princi- 
pally in the descent of the cloven tongues, and the gift 
of languages. What they were to give to others, they 
must first themselves receive—and what they had re- 
ceived they must aie impart. This happened also at 
Cesarea. 

‘The Holy Ghost fell on all When which heard the 
word.’—Here the Evangelist, and afterwards Peter, 
makes use of a very simple word, borrowed from ma- 

, terial nature, in order to express that spiritual thing 
which happened to Cornelius,—the Holy Ghost fell on 
all. The Scriptures often use comparisons of the same 
nature ; as for instance, ‘ He shall come down like rain 
upon the mown grass ; as showers that water the earth,’ 
Psalm Ixxu. 6. The Bible is not like the human un- 
derstanding, for it does not separate the outward and 
temporal, from the invisible and everlasting Word ; but, 
on the contrary, regards both as the one work of God. 
When the Word which was from the beginning became 
flesh, why should not also the coming of the Spirit from 
above be described by a human word? The natural 
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, but 
he that is spiritual judgeth all things. That work of 
God, which took place bodily in the man sick of the 
palsy, when Jesus commanded him to take up his bed 
and walk; and also in the lame man, at the gate of the 
temple, ohio at the words of Peter and John, suddenly 
rose up, leaped, walked, and praised God; the same 
now took place spiritually in those who listened to the 
Apostle’s sermon. As a new bodily life commenced 
in those that were healed, so a new life in Christ, 

15 


170 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


of which the former was the symbol, took place spiritu- 
ally in Cornelius and his friends. | 

The Apostle who Jeaned on the bosom of our Lord, 
calls him the Life, and thus describes the person of 
Jesus : ‘That which was from the beginning, which we 
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which 
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of 
the-word of life.’ The old covenant was only the pre- 
paration and promise of the word-of life which was to 
come. In the new covenant, the word became flesh, 
and the life appeared which was to become the life 
of the world. A third manifestation must now take 
place, namely, the pouring out of life upon all flesh, and 
this is the history of God among men. | Cornelius and 
his friends became the first fruits among the Gentiles 
when they received the Holy Spirit; it was mdeed a 
most important moment, and a most important advance, 
which the kingdom of God now made upon earth ;. it 
was the entrance of the Gentile world upon a new life. 
That which had happened to the Apostles at Jerusalem, 
now took place in this little community, their characters, 
so weak and lowly before, were now exalted to the 
heavenly ; and their hearts and lips were inspired,-so 
that they overflowed with the praises of the glory of 
God. All this took place in Cesarea, while the earth 
was still warm from the rays of the Sun of Righteous- 
ness, which had descended upon it, and while the foot- 
_ steps of the anointed One were still visible. | 

‘ And they of the curcumcision which believed were as- 
tonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on 
the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy 


THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. 17] 


Ghost.’—I happened here, as at the feast of Pentecost, 
the people were confounded and astonished at what had 
passed. 

It was not so much the circumstance itself which ex- 
cited the wonder of those weak Christians, so lately 
converted from Judaism; as the fact, that the Gentiles 
also, who had never confines to the law or the ordi- 
nance of circumcision, were esteemed worthy of the 
same privileges as the people of God. Although they 
had both heard from the mouth of the Apostle, and 
learned by their own experience, ‘ That God is no re- 
specter of persons; but in every nation, he that feareth 
him ; and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him ;? 
yet their old prejudice, in all its power, rose up once 
more to darken their minds. Our history here shows 
us two things, the condescending mercy of God to weak 
unbelieving man, and the visible manifestation of his 
hand which was necessary to open a path for the en- 
trance of the Word into the world. Sinful man is by 

nature inclined to worship the understanding, which 
certainly is an error quite as bad as the idolatry that 
seeks to confine the Lord, who fills heaven and earth, 
to atemple made with hands, or to an image made of 
iron or marble. This worship of the understanding 
seeks to limit tho power of the living God, by the laws 
which govern nature, and by the ordinary course of his- 
tory and events; thus lowering the glory of the un- 
changeable God to the level of a thing created by their 
own imaginations. The first describes the method of 
the infidel worldly wisdom of our own era; the second 
was the ground and foundation of the hatred with which 


172 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


the Jews rejected the Gospel, and refused it even to the 
present day. The astonishment of the believers who 
accompanied Peter, shows that a similar prejudice ex- 
isted in their hearts. Let us hope that it was the last, 
and that, by God’s grace, the pouring out of his Holy 
Spirit, on this occasion, became the means of complet- 
ing their change. © Oh! folly and blindness of man, 
which would persuade him that there is' no other light 
than that which proceeds from the sun, moon, and stars, 
and no other history than the world’s history, in which 
the Gospel can find no place! Where would they place | 
our history of Cornelius? Would not the half convert- 
ed Christians be astonished, and the unbeliever think 
that we spoke as if filled with new wine ? 
Let us now return to our Centurion—The day had 
now dawned in his house; Christ, the morning star, 
had arisen in every heart; and the place where dark- 
ness had formerly prevailed, was now illuminated by 
the light of the Lord. This day of salvation succeeded — 
along night of sighs and groans, and longing for the 
presence of the living God; during it, the Lord had led 
this Abraham, out of the idolatrous land of his fathers, 
towards Canaan; the faint twilight which had illumi- 
nated his path, which had only increased without satis- 
fying his desire for the full blaze of light. His fasting, 
prayers, and alms, his humble and prostrate reception of 
the man for whom he had sent, his earnest attention to 
the words of the Apostle, and the surrounding circle of 
his friends, servants, and soldiers, filled with the same 
aspirations as himself,—all bore witness to the righteous 
vonging of these souls, for the good and perfect gifts 


THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. 173 


which come from above. Could a father give his child 
a stone, when he asked him for bread? . And could he, 
who clothed the lilies in the field more beautifully than 
Solomon in all his glory, refuse the water from the liy- 
ing fountain to the thirsty soul ! 

‘For this reason, the day of anointing and baptizing 
with the Holy Spirit, must as certainly come to Corne- 
hus, as the morning light follows darkness and twilight. 
And as the Creator ornaments the beautiful spring-time, 
the silent commencement of a new life in the kingdom 
of nature, with many lovely sounds, odors, and colors,— 
so must the beginning of the kingdom of God in the 
heathen world, be glorified by signs and wonders, songs 
and praises. Certainly those miracles soon ceased, like 
the angelic radiance on the countenance of Stephen, 
which was beheld by those who. put him to death: but 
they were both the testimony of an internal, joyful, and 
peaceful life, which grew and increased in faith, hope, 
_and love; brought forth the fruits of the Spirit, and. 
was in the hearts of the regenerated ; a living fountain 
of salvation and peace in. life and in death, through 
time and through eternity. 

Happy are all those on whom the Spirit has descend- 
ed: they are the children of God, and bear the testimo- 
ny of it in.their hearts, as they utter Abba with their 
lips.. Regeneration, or a. new creation within us, can 
only be accomplished by the Spirit of God, from whom 
our spirit proceeds. The Holy Ghost must assist us in 
the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, and arm us 
with power from on high, that we may gain the victory, 
and be glorified from one glory into another. 

15* 


174 - CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


There is no other way to attain this spirit of power, 
wisdom, and revelation, than the path in which Corne- 
lius walked. “We have naturally a feeling of disqui- 
etude, and a longing for the peace of God; the world 
cannot give it, and still less can we attain it by our own 
exertions, for it must come to us from above. Cornelius 
did not find it by his own merits, by fasting or prayer, 
penitence or alms; but, through the instrumentality of 
Peter’s sermon, he found peace in believing on Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins. As sight was restored 
to the believing blind man at the word of the Lord, and 
as the man sick of the palsy took up his bed and walked, 
when our Lord said, ‘ thy faith hath cured thee,’ so the 
word of the Apostle. became light and life in the heart 
of the Gentile by means of his faith; and the Gospel 
became in him the power of God unto salvation. But 
in order to obtain the gift of the Holy Spirit, there is a 
nearer path for us than for Cornelius; we do not need 
to send, like him, to Joppa. The will spoken by our 
Lord, and evangelized by his Apostles, is close at hand 
and in our very dwellings ; ; and as soon as we desire it, 
we can hear the voices of Peter and John, Paul and 
James. 

If this wish is lively and ardent, and if we receive 
the word joyfully as the first of blessings, then the giver 
himself, the Holy Spirit, will come unto us, and we shall 
enjoy the fellowship of God. If we grasp it firmly, as 
the better portion ; then more and more shall be given 
to us; if we are only willing to learn, the Spirit of God 
will teach us; if we will follow, he will guide us; if 
we open to hilt our troubled hearts, he will console us ; 


THE HOLY GHOST FALLS UPON THE GENTILES. 175 


if we remain faithful, he will strengthen and perfect us. 
Then shall we speak with tongues, and with thanks and 
praises, by word and deed, shew forth the goodness of 
him who has called us from darkness into his wonderful 


hight. To him be honor and glory, for ever and ever. 
Amen ! 


CHAPTER XIV. 
“THE GENTILES BAPTIZED. 


Ir, following the example of the Holy Scriptures, 
we call them a covenant, and then divide it into the Old 
and New, we indicate thereby the divine origin, the 
character, aim, and history of the revelations of God. 
_The Bible is the glorious word, profound and true, which, 
rightly understood, reveals to us the mystery of the de- 
pendence of man on his heavenly Father, and the con- 
nection of God with man. The words of the prophet, 
‘men have transgressed the covenant,’ find their con- 
firmation both in human feeling and in human history. 
Slavish fear, striving to reconcile the offended Godhead 
by self-chosen mediators, or by its own art to appease 
the divine anger, and quiet its own terror, has been the 
basis.of idolatry in all ages, and in all nations. Every 
religion not grounded on revelation, is false, being a 
proof of sin and of apostacy from God,—tending, be- 
sides, to a perpetually increasing separation from Jeho- 
vah and his salvation. Man could only be reconciled 
to God, by means of a divine mediator; but this was 
beyond the power of man to conceive till God himself 
revealed it. 

The history of that nation, which God chose Seni 
amidst the idolatrous world, to be his own peculiar peo- 
ple, amply proves how difficult itis for the natural man 


THE GENTILES BAPTIZED. 177 


to raise his faith, so as to comprehend the covenant of 
God with the human race; simplicity and humility 
alone candoit. Therefore the Lord says, by the mouth 
of his prophets, ‘Thou hast made me to serve with thy 
sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. — I, 
even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for 
mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,’ Is. 
xliii. 24, 25. ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting 
love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.’ 
Jer. xxxi. 3. These words paint with striking reality, 
-both the unwearied mercy of God, and the unceasing 
rebellion of men, The next step which the Jewish na- 
tio, shall take, is deeply interesting to all mankind ; 
though God is also the God of the Gentiles, yet loiiel 
is his first-born son. 

It is unspeakably touching to observe how he, 
‘which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the or- 
dinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by 
night,’ how the Lord of Sabaoth condescends to draw 
men unto himself, and if they will humbly believe on 
him, covers their transgressions, showering blessings up- 
on them. As the Lord, after the first judgment had 
been passed over the miserable earth, extended his bow 
in the clouds, as a pledge to Noah that he would keep 
his covenant and his promises ; so all the exterior forms 
and observances of the Old Testament had no other 
object than the visible ratification of his gracious words, 
‘For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be re- 
moved; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, 
neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, 
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee,’ Is. liv. 10, 


178 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


And the Apostle Paul says, ‘ Israelites, to whom pertain= 
eth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and 
the giving of the law, and the service of God and the 
promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as con- 
cerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God 
blessed forever ? Rom. ix. 4, 5. | 
After the kindness and love of God our Savior to- 
wards man had appeared, when the promises were ful- 
filled, and the eternal covenant was concluded, not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, but accord- 
ing to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regen- 
eration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. > Baptism 
stands among the ordinances of Christianity, in wonder- 
ful simplicity, as the seal of the covenant of God, as 
a visible pledge of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
of the love of God, and of the fellowship of the Holy 
Spirit. Oh! that all would regard it as the glad token 
of a new covenant, like the bright testimony God 
stretched among the clouds, the footstool of him whose 
throne is in heaven! Oh! that Sion would hear his 
voice; lo, I shall be with thee, even unto the end of 


the world ! ! «IT have graven thee on the palms of my 
hands,’ 





‘Ten answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these 
should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost 
as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized 
in the name of the Lord.’—Acts x. 46—48. 


Peter had preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his 
friends ; they had received the word, of truth joyfully, 


THE GENTILES BAPTIZED. 179 


and had. believed. Anew life had commenced in 
their souls, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, 
like the Apostles at the feast of Pentecost, so that they 
spake with tongues and magnified God. And now 
Peter asks, in the joy of his heart, ‘ Can any man for- 
bid water, that these should not be baptized?’ One 
may well inquire how they that were born again by 
the Spirit of God, should require the ceremonial of 
baptism ? Certainly not, if baptism were a mere out- 
ward form! But it must have been much more, or the 
Apostle would not have used it to conclude that. work 
of salvation and blessing, for which. he had been sent 
to the house of the Centurion; making it, as it were, 
the very crown of God’s first manifestation to the 
Gentiles! Those young believers were to receive a 
blessing through the ordinance of baptism, the last 
good and perfect gift of which they stood in need. 
Baptism seems, at the first glance, a mere outward 
ceremony. The person to be baptized must either be 
plunged into water, as was the custom in the East, or 
else, as among European Christians, be merely sprink- 
led with it, while the clergyman is pronouncing the 
name of the Holy Trinity. Nothing can. be simpler 
than this, yet it is the seal of the greatest of God’s 
gifts and blessmgs. God acts with simplicity; it is 
man alone that employs art. What can be simpler 
than the manner in which, for so many thousand years, 
-he has. poured out his light upon the earth, and has 
sent rain and dew from above? When the Almighty 
created man in his own image, he formed his body out 
of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the 


180 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


breath of life, and man became a living soul. Sin, 
however, has transformed us, making that manifold 
which was formerly simple, and causing flesh and spirit 
to strive against one another. 

But what is more, the Lord Jesus himself nis ap- 
pointed and ordained this sacrament. He who walked 
upon earth in the simplest and most obscure form of 
man, in order to seek them which were lost, and to 
save them from sin, he who, by his simple Gospel, has 
done away with the unnecessary forms of the law, and 
enjoined the worship of God in Spirit and in truth, he it 
it who has solemnly ordained baptism to be used by the 
church. His words are, ‘ Go ye, therefore, and teach 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the evan 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ 

Baptism is the symbol of Christianity, of belief in 
the Gospel, and of reception into the community of 
saints. The Apostles, wherever they went, enjoined 
this command of the Lord, and baptized all who, re- 
nouncing either Judaism or Heathenism, professed their 
belief in the name of Jesus. ‘ Repent and be baptized, 
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the 
remission of sins,’ are the words of Peter on the day of | 
Pentecost. Cornelius and his companions must also be 
baptized, in order to be withdrawn from the dark re- 
gions of Gentilism, and received into the congregation 
of the Lord. Asa little infant, at its entrance into this 
world of tears, stands in need of the swaddling clothes 
‘which are given to it, without its own co-operation ; 
so the new-born heavenly child requires baptism, the 
covering given to it from heaven for its spiritual man. 


THE GENTILES BAPTIZED. 181 


Regarding it merely as an outward ceremony, it is 
honorable, for it resembles the anointing with oil, when 
kings and priests were consecrated. 

As we beheld the fulness of the Godhead dwelling 
in the simple human form of Jesus of Nazareth, so, in 
like manner, baptism comprehends within itself a Spirit. 
and life, a Divine truth and promise. We shall see 
this, if we only consider its institution. It was practised 
in Israel by Divine authority before Christ appeared ; 
but only as preparatory, in the same manner as the 
Gospel, before it was preached, was contained in the 
Old Testament. John baptized for them that was to 
come, and his disciples did the same. The Lord him- 
self was baptized, complying with this ordinance as_ 
well as with the law of Moses; after his resurrection 
also, when he had finished his work upon earth, and 
was about to re-ascend to his glory, he enjoined it in 
the most solemn manner on his disciples. It was then 
he uttered the glorious words, ‘All power is given 
~ unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore, and 
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world. Amen.’ In this manner the 
Lord of heaven and earth made baptism the ‘visible 
seal of his glory and power, and the token of his in- 
visible presence unto all that believe in his name. 

Our history shows us that the sermon of the Apostle 
had found in the hearts of Cornelius and his friends a 
good soil, which willingly received the indestructible 

16 


182 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


seed of the word, and quickly brought forth fruit. 
Through the preaching of Peter, they had become 
believers in Christ, and partakers of the kingdom 
of God. There was only thing more to be desired, 
namely, the sealing of this new life and covenant by 
the Lord himself, through whose servants they had 
come to the knowledge of the truth. Baptism was to 
be the seal and confirmation. Peter himself did not 
baptize, but probably commanded the brethren who ac- 
companied him from Joppa to admit the believing Gen- 
tiles by this ordinance into the Christian church. 

They had hitherto received the word and the Spirit 
in common; but now the pledge of the grace and fel- 
lowship of Jesus Christ was imparted to each indivi- 
dual, as the touching and laying on of hands was 
formerly done by our Lord. In like manner, the bap- 
tism of those children whom we bring to Jesus, is a 
repetition of the same condescending love which 
prompted him to say, ‘ Suffer the little children to come 
unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the king- 
dom of God,’—and which induced him to take them up 
in his arms, put his hands upon them, and _ bless them. 
Paul also compares baptism to the cloud which led the 
Israelites through the wilderness, and manifested the 
presence of Jehovah. He says, our fathers ‘ were all 
baptized unto Moses, in the cloud and in the sea’— 
meaning by Moses, the covenant of the law, of which 
he was the mediator, 

The Lord chose water for the ae and visible sign of 
those blessings which his presence imparts. He chose , 
that common element, which is found even in the most 


THE GENTILES BAPTIZED. 183 


desert parts of the world; which, at the beginning, un- 
til the Creator appointed its proper bounds, covered 
the whole surface of the ground like one immense 
grave, and by which also he executed his first judg- 
ment on the corrupt earth. 

‘ Can any one forbid water? said the Apostle. He- 
lets us know by many comparisons and allusions, 
- whenever he speaks of baptism, how important we 
must consider it, as a token appointed by our Lord. In 
his first Epistle, he compares the water of baptism to 
the waters of the flood, whereby only eight souls were 
saved, but the whole unbelieving world was destroy- 
ed; Paul also compares it to the Red Seéa,in which 
Phnrath and his whole host were drowned, but Israel 
passed through dry-shod. Water can be deadly and 
destroying, but it is also purifying’ and enlivening. On 
account of its destructive properties, the raging sea is 
held within its proper bounds by the power of God; 
but he also sends it down in the form of rain and aew, 
which, after descending into the ground, spring up 
again in the gushing rivulets, and — and enliven 
every living thing upon earth. 

The water of baptism was to show itself 3 in both 
ways on Cornelius and his house. He was by birth a 
Gentile, a child of wrath, without faith and hope, and 
utterly estranged from the character of God; in this 
respect he resembled mankind at the time of the flood, 
as well as the unbelieving Pharaoh and his host ; but, 
in another, he differed from them, being aware of his 
sin and misery, and longing, from his heart, for grace 
and truth. He felt that he was under the bondage of 


184 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. | 


death, and wished to become a peituilcer 3 in whi life 
and holiness. The Gospel, that word of peace. and 
truth, was now sent, and opened to him a new world, 
the kingdom of God. He believed it with his whole 
heart, and desired to become a member of this hea- 
venly kingdom—and, lo! he was solemnly received 
into it, body, soul, and spirit, through the baptism of 
regeneration. His old and natural man was, in the 
sight of God, annihilated and destroyed in the water of 
baptism ;—he arose out of the dark flood, the symbol 
of darkness, as a new man, the child of light and truth ; 
the freedom of the children of God, and a new and 
glorious life, far beyond the influence of. time and of 
death, was now secured to him by the divine letter and 
seal. Cornelius, with his whole house, may be com- 
pared to Noah and his family, who entered into the 
_ ark, and, by its means, floated on the surface of the 
waters; or to-the children of Israel, over whom the ~ 
waves of the sea had no power. Baptism was to bim 
a seal and token, that neither death nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, should be able to separate him from the love 
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is like- 
wise a pledge of the same to us and our children. 
Cornelius and his friends required a pledge of that 
forgiveness of sins which Peter had spoken of in the 
conclusion of his sermon, and also a perfect assurance 
of peace and happiness. This was secured to them by 
baptism, which is a cleansing from sin by the blood of 
the Son of God, arid the answer of a good conscience 


THE GENTILES BAPTIZED. 185 


toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. ‘Know 
ye not,’ saith the Scripture, ‘ that so many of us as were 
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? 
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into: 
death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead 
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk 
in newness of : life,” Rom. vi. 3, 4. These Gentile be- 
lievers were appointed to receive all the blessings of 
the Gospel by means of baptism. They came out of 
the water washed from their sins, by the blood of Jesus 
Christ, clad in the garments of his righteousness, and 
made by him kings and priests unto God and_ his 
Father. ; 

‘ They were baptized in the name of the Lord.’— 
That is to say, in the name of the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost. Oh! the depth and simplicity of 
those three holy baptismal words! They comprehend 
all the promises and revelations of God for our salva- 
tion, and, by their connection with the rite of baptism, 
are humanized, or, in other words, are God in his rela 
tion to man. 

As the word preached by the Apostles in the name 
of the Lord, so the miracles similar to his own which 
they performed, are and were his, in the fullest extent 
of the word; so when we contemplate baptism in the 
name of the Lord, we may regard it as done by God 
himself through the instrumentality of men. God’s 
name is the Deity himself in relation to man; and he 
has anes it to us in order that we may name him 
‘ours.’ In the rite of baptism, all that Jehovah is to 
man, is comprehended and imparted. The three works 

16* 


186 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. _ 


of the mercy of God; the adoption of man by the Fa- 
ther; his reconciliation and redemption by the Son ; 
and his regeneration and sanctification by the Spirit— 
all combining to re-establish the divine image in his 
soul and body, are solemnly expressed, and divinely 
sealed and confirmed by the names of the trinity, the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The sacrament of bap- 
tism contains a mysterious treasure, greater and higher 
than either earth or heaven, for it.contains the name of 
God and the whole of the Gospel. In its essence, it is 
a second incarnation of that Word which was from the 
beginning with God, and by whom all things were 
made. It is the sacrament, that is, the visible yet mys-" 
terious testimony of the covenant which the omnipo- 
tent God has entered into with man, in order to assure 
him of his adoption and blessing ; and it is also the en- 
trance of his name into the book of life. Therefore 
must baptism, in this instance, perfect and: conclude 
God’s work of mercy to the believing Gentiles at Ca- 
sarea, and be a testimony that their n names were written 
in heaven. 

What joy and happiness must Cornelius and_ his 
friends have experienced, and how must their souls 
have praised the Lord and his holy name, after they 
had been received by baptism into his church, for the 
living fountain was opened out of which they were to 
receive grace? We obtain no more by baptism, how- 
ever, than what we can grasp by faith, for it is written, 
‘He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.’ 
What advantage would it be to a man, to have a deed 
in his hands proving his possession of a large property, 


THE GENTILES BAPTIZED. 187 


as long as he refused to assert his claim? What good 
would it do to an orphan child, though a rich and be- 
nevolent man said to him, ‘I will be thy father, thou 
shalt be my child, and that which is mine shall belong 
to thee,’ if the child would not believe his words, that 
is to say, if he would not accept his blessings! The 
faith which we have in our hearts is the power of re- 
ceiving, and as soon as we have received, it becomes a 
possession ; but baptism is, and remains a gift, to which 
- we may always have recourse, as to the mercy-seat, 
which is Christ Jesus. — 

‘ He that believeth and 1s eens shall be saved.’?— 
The ground of their salvation was laid, and a new life 
had begun in them; ‘ buried with Christ in baptism,’ 
‘wherein they had risen with him, through the faith of 
the operation of God, who had raised him from the 
dead; they haweRewurd contemplated the things 
which are from above, and no longer that which is 
earthly. Their souls, clad with salvation, and covered 
with the garments of righteousness, now became joyful 
in the Lord and magnified God. Having been baptized 
into Christ, they had put on Christ, and full of thankful 
love towards their glorified Redeemer, they sought, by 
the joyful confession of his name, and a faithful imita- 
tion of his example, to dedicate to him their whole life, 
body, soul, and spirit, and to become more and more 
worthy of his kingdom of grace, and his future glory. 
Baptism in the name of the Lord, which he himself had 
appointed immediately before his ascension, was a sym- 
bol, a seal, and a pledge of the glorious future, when 
they should be freed from the prison of their mortal 


188 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


body, and the imperfections of their earthly life, and 
when they should behold him whom their soul loved, 
face to face, through all the ages of eternity. In order 
to renew and quicken this eternal covenant, and to 
strengthen their relation with God and Christ, they 
were now permitted access to the Lord’s Supper that 
by receiving his body and blood into their souls, they 
might become partakers of eternal life. For whosoever 
hath, to him shall be given, that he may have more 
abundantly. 


CHAPTER XV. 
PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS CERTAIN DAYS. 


WE are now at the conclusion of the beautiful and 
remarkable history of the Centurion Cornelius. When 
the narration of any occurrence causes it to be vividly 
depicted in our minds, we may be said to live it over 
again ; in this manner we have experienced in our own 
persons much of what is described by the Evangelists, 
and beheld Cornelius and his friends.as in a mirror. It 
was for this reason that the conversion of the first Gen- 
tile family was transmitted to us in writing, as a most 
important part of that Christian belief into which we 
are baptized. We see in the history of Cornelius, that 
he was acquainted with the existence of the one true 
God, and Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, by 
means of the manifestation of the old covenant, in the 
sacred writings of the Jews; and also that it was not 
a mere cold conviction, but an ardent belief, and a 
heart-felt longing after the fellowship of the only source 
of salvation and happiness. We behold also in our. 
history, the path which God takes, in order that all 
may come to the knowledge of the truth, and that he 
may be found by those that seek him. We hear the 
Apostle describing the person and character of the Me- 
diator and Savior Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the 
Son of God, and his wanderings upon earth, his death 


190 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


on the cross, his resurrection and ascension, his glorifi- 
cation, and return again to judgment. 

We then see and understand how Cornelius and _ his 
household heard the word preached. unto them with 
humility and child-like faith, how they ‘received. for- 
giveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and 
then, as a seal and testimony of the fellowship and 
grace of God, were renewed by the baptism into the 
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and into the commu- 
nity of his saints. 

The history now concludes, and we might perhaps 
expect it to relate something more; for instance, the 
progress of the new life in those so lately awakened 
from sleep and risen from the dead, and the manner in 
which Christ continued to illuminate their minds! Pre- 
sumptuous idea! The Holy Scriptures are even silent 
with regard to the remaining history of the young man 
at Nain, and Lazarus of Bethany, both of whom our 
Savior recalled to life. After Nicodemus’ visit by night 
and conversation with our Lord, his history is lost, like 
a rivulet amidst the sand; we do not ever behold him 
rise up and depart, and scarcely are told how long he 
hearkened to the Master in Israel. 

He came, but unfortunately for himself, he also de- 
parted before that flower had opened, the germ of 
which was in his soul ; yet the Evangelist twice alludes 
afterwards to the nightly visit of this. Pharisee and 
ruler among the Jews. It is otherwise, however, in 
our history. The rays of the rising sun had suddenly 
opened the hearts of the little household at Cesarea, 
and in their joy they could now say, ‘ Lo the winter is 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 191 


past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on 
the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and 
the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree 
putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the 
tender grape give a good smell.’ Song of Solomon, 
i. 11. 





‘Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.’— 
Acts x. 48. 


Tuese concluding words of our history do not seem 
intended for our particular consideration ; indeed, similar 
expressions may be found in any letter or narrative of 
a journey; nevertheless they are hallowed by the con- 
nection in which they stand. On’ this account, we 
must observe who made this request; to whom it was 
made; and what was obtained by it. It is true that 
the narrative might well have concluded with the words 
which we have already considered, ‘ And he commanded 
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord ;’ but we 
should have regretted this abrupt termination, in as far 
as we had sympathized in the joy of this converted 
household at receiving the new life through the grace 
of God. 

We should have asked, almost with grief, why Peter 
and his companions, after fulfilling their office and divine 
commission, had left the grateful Gentiles so speedily ? 
Ought not the messengers and servants of the Lord to 
show themselves as friends and brethren to Cornelius 
and his household, by passing a short time of confiden- 


192 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


tial fellowship with them? And is. then the life of 
faith as different and distinct from the customary and 
social life of man as the act of going to church is from — 
_ week-day occupations. 

Our history answers these questions, when it thus 
concludes: ‘ Then prayed they him to tarry certain 
days.’ The Evangelist is silent ; nevertheless it is un- 
derstood that their request was granted. Our Lord 
himself, though uninvited, entered the house of the tax- 
gatherer Zaccheus, because the latter earnestly and 
from his heart desired him to do so. Peter and his com- 
panions tarried certain days. Golden days, are the 
words of a pious commentator now deceased ; golden 
in the same manner that the morning’s dawn and the 
rising sun are termed golden. Here the day was break- 
ing, here the Sun of Righteousness was shining with . 
healing on its wings, and here the Lord was descending 
like the soft dew, and refreshing the hearts of his — 
children. 

We behold in the house of Cornelius a holy family, 
who are ‘fellow citizens with the saints and of the 
household of God, and are built upon the foundation of 
the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being 
the chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building, fitly 
framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the 
Lord,’ Eph. 1. 19. 

Our Evangelist relates nothing farther concerning 
what took place during these days, in the house of the 
Centurion at Cesarea. We do not require it, however. 
He has already circumstantially described, in the Acts- 
of the Apostles, the appearance and character of the 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 193 


first assemblage of Christians, after they had received 
the gift of the Holy Spirit. It must have been an oc- 
currence somewhat similar at Caesarea, for both had 
the same origin; the faith of the converts was founded 
on the same grounds, and they both rejoiced in the same 
grace and heavenly blessing. In both cases there were 
a number of believers, and, although very different from 
each other in outward circumstances, the character and 
form of their minds were similar, and their hearts and 
souls were closely knit together. 

Let us now enter the house of the noble Roman. 
We here behold a company consisting of men of dif- 
ferent station and country, different education and call- 
ing. The two principal people are Simon Peter, the 
guest, and Cornelius, the host and proprietor of the 
house ; the first is by birth a Galilean, his early o¢cupa- 
tion was that of a fisherman at Bethsaida, but now he is 
an Apostle of Jesus of Nazareth ; the second isa soldier, 
_ by birth and education a Roman and a Gentile. With 
the Apostle Peter there are classed the believing breth- 
ren who accompanied him from Joppa to Cesarea, who 
had received the Gospel, but who had not laid aside all 
their Jewish: prejudices, and were astonished when they 
beheld ‘ that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift 
of the Holy Ghost.’ With the Centurion we may rank 
his family, relations, and friends, his servants and the 
devout soldier, alongwith ‘ many that were come to- 
gether.’ They were probably all Gentiles; no doubt 
women and children would be among them, and par- 
ticipate in the divine blessing; although, according to 
the custom of the Scriptures, they are not mentioned, 

17 


194 ~ CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


_ because it was unnecessary. Thus we behold an as- 
semblage of men of the most distinct races, manners, 
and customs. 

All those walls of separation are taken away. Ac- 
cording to the words of the Apostle Paul, here ‘there 
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, 
there is’ neither male nor female ; but ye are all one in 
Christ Jesus.’ ‘ All children of God by faith in Christ 
Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized unto 
Christ have put on Christ.’ Gal. i. 28, 26, 27. We 
see here an assemblage and household of our heavenly 
Father, joined together in the closest manner by one 
spirit, through Jesus Christ, the only mediator between 
God and man, who offered himself up a sacrifice for the 
redemption of all. Baptism, the washing of regenera~- 
tion, and the ‘renewal of the Holy Spirit, has taken 
away the walls of separation. What a glorious sight 
it must be, and what joy.and pleasure it must cause the 
angels of God, when in such a spirit the believing sons 
of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, though outwardly divided 
by variety of color, language, time, education and 
country, join together in brotherly love over the word 
of God, and under the cross, the victorious banner of 
our Lord! This can only be effected by the power of 
the Gospel, the word of peace and love. It neither de- 
stroys human relations, nor those outward observances 
which keep a right distance between the different classes © 
of society ; the Centurion remained not only a Centu- 
rion, and his servants and soldiers were subject to him as 
formerly ; but the ight which now illuminated all, estab- 
lished more strongly and closely human ties and rela- 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 195 


tionships. In this manner it afterwards jomed more 
intimately than ever, both in the flesh and in the Lord, 
Philemon and his run-away servant Onesimus, whom 
Paul had converted, and sent back to his master. As 
the hand and foot serve the eye, and the eye serves the 
hand and foot, so the Gospel joins many together in 
one body in Christ, which is the head; ‘From whom 
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by 
that which every joint supplieth, according to the effec- 
tual working in the measure of every part, maketh in- 
crease of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love.’ 
Eph. iv. 16. 

Our assemblage at Caesarea, in prayer and praise, 
and reception of the divine word, are the picture of the 
first Christians who met together on the day of Pente- 
cost, and here also there is in the sight of the Lord 
neither rich nor poor, great nor mean, master nor ser- 
-vant; but love, which is the bond and tie, connecting 
all together. A similar mind and spirit should accom- 
pany us, both in our churches and in our social and do- 
amestic life, and transform our working days into days 
of the Lord. 

On what was this heart-felt bond of union grounded, 
which joined together in one spirit, such different men ? 
Our history replies, ‘On Jesus Christ the Lord.’ Here 
also we may quote the words of the Apostle, ‘ For 
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
which is Jesus Christ.’ 1 Cor. im. 11. Peter had 
preached to those Gentiles Jesus Christ, the Lord over 
all, whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost and with 
power, who went about doing good; who had been 


196 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. - 


crucified and slain, but whom God raised up the third 
day, and ordained to be the judge of quick and dead, and 
to whom all the prophets bear witness, that through his 
name, whosoever believeth in him, shall receive remis- 
sion of sins. This Jesus of Nazareth was the one theme 
of the Apostle’s sermon; and Cornelius, and all they’ 
who heard it, believed the word, and this faith became 
the invisible bond which united their hearts and souls 
into one family of God, and, as his children, joined 
them together with the ties of brotherly and sisterly af- 
fection. They all had received the Lord Jesus Christ, 
faith had taken firm root in their hearts, their house was 
built upon a firm rock, and they were all penetrated 
with gratitude, reverence, and love towards their hea- 
venly Father; they had all been baptized in the name 
of Jesus, and throagh him received forgiveness of sins, 
and access to the Father, through the Holy Spirit; by 
him they had also received the pledge of their Adoption 
to be children of God, and the lively assurance of a fu- 
ture perfection in eternal happiness and glory. Thus 
we see the fulfilment of what the Apostle writes, ‘ One 
body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope 
of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; one 
God and Father of all, who is above ail, and through 
all, and in you all.’ Eph. iv. 4-6. As by the word of 
salvation which God has presented to us through 
Christ, men are reconciled to their heavenly father, so 
they are jomned together in the bonds of affection one to 
another, in the same manner as the angelic inhabitants 
of heaven. 

A union with God in - faith, i is at the same time, a 
union of men amongst each other in love; for the one 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 197 


is the natural and necessary consequence of the other. 
For this reason, our Lord makes use of the strongest 
expressions and the most striking parables, to show that 
gentleness, forgiveness of sin, love to our neighbor and 
- even to our enemy, are the signs and tokens by which - 
we may know his disciples and followers. In the 
Lord’s prayer, he says, ‘ Forgive us our debts, as we 
forgive our debtors,’ and afterwards in the same chap- 
ter, adds, ‘For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your 
heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father for- 
give your trespasses.’ This is the spirit of the new 
covenant, the spirit of peace and of love, which the 
prophet alludes to when he prophecies of the time when 
the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young 
hon and the fatling together; when, instead of the 
thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier 
shall come up the myrtle-tree; when God will put a 
new spirit into man, take away the stony heart out of 
his flesh, and give him a heart of flesh. As the sun en- 
livens and quickens the animal and vegetable produc- 
tions of nature, so Jesus Christ, the Lord over all, per- 
fects that love which is the highest species of life, both 
in mankind as a whole, and in each individual. ‘For | 
he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath 
broken down the middle wall of partition between us ; 
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law 
of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make 
in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace,’ 
Eph. ii. 14, 15.~ In every one, into whose heart he en- 
| 17* 


“ 
198 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


ters and dwells, he creates a new man, and removes 
every partition and separation, of discord, selfishness, 
envy, and wickedness, planting instead, unity, peace, 
joy, and love. 

Among all who receive Jesus as the one Mediator 
between God and man, there arises a new covenant in 
the Lord, like that of David and Jonathan; the multi- 
tude that believe are of one heart and soul, like the first 
assembly of Christians at Jerusalem, and the little com- 
munity at Cesarea ;—most beautiful union, grounded 
on the one rock and corner-stone, on which we are built 
together in one household of God through the Spirit. 
The brotherly love and fellowship of the members of our 
church is also grounded on the faith in the one man, by 
whom, God having loved the world, reconciled it to 
himself, and by whom all mankind shall be judged at 
the last day. By Jesus alone can the church be united 
to the Lord, and become a community of saints, over 
whom the gates of hell shall have no power. 

When we look upon the little household at Cesarea, 
we are inclined to ask the question, ‘ How did they 
employ those days which the Apostle passed in the 
midst of them? Certainly the grateful Centurion 
would strive to entertain the Apostle and his other 
guests in the most hospitable manner; and they, in re- 
turn, as was afterwards made a matter of reproach to 
Peter by those of the circumcision at Jerusalem, would 
sit in the same circle, and eat at the same table with 
the believing Gentiles, eat their bread with joyfulness, 
secure in the approbation of God, and sanctify his gift 
by praise and thanksgiving. The first Christians, as 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 199 


long as their communities were so small as to bear the 
character of social life, used to hold Agapae, or love 
feasts, in which the rich ate along with the poor, and 
partook of the same food; but this was the first time 
when Jews and Gentiles ate of one bread and drunk out 
of one cup. Peter certainly would now call to mind 
the parable contained in the vision of the linen cloth 
let down from heaven, as well as our Lord’s parable of 
the marriage supper, to which the lame and the cripple 
were invited; he would also remember the words of 
Jesus, ‘Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, 
when he cometh, shall find watching ; verily I say unto 
you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit 
down to meat, and will come forth and serve them,’ 
Luke xu. 37. 

The Apostle’stands here in the place of his Lord and 
Master, and, as the steward of the spiritual gifts of God, 
administers the heavenly food which conducts to eternal 
life unto those friends with whom he is residing. With- 
out doubt, in this family of God, there were, as in the 
present day, gradations in knowledge and faith,— 
fathers, young men, children, and infants; it would be 
the Apostle’s care to strengthen the weak and lead 
them on to higher steps in spiritual life, and to feed 
them with milk or stronger food, according to the ne- 
cessity of each. He would now more fully relate what 
he had only cursorily mentioned in his sermon, the in- 
carnation and character, the works and miracles, the 
suffermgs and glory of our Lord, and would impart to 
them, by the words of his mouth, the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, for as yet it had uot been writ- 


200 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


ten. If Cornelius, and his friends also, brought any 
children to him, the Apostle would not fail to caress 
them, lay his hands upon them and bless them. We 
can imagine the new-born believers at Caesarea, like 
Mary of Bethany, sitting listening at the feet of Peter, 
and receiving from his lips the words of eternal life ; and 
‘we can also imagine them, because they believed in the 
same God, and were grateful for the same blessing, 
praising and glorifying, along with him, the immea- 
surable grace and goodness of their heavenly Father. 
They would most certainly communicate to each other 
their joyful hopes and feelings,—strengthen each other 
in their most blessed and holy faith,—raise their hearts 
together in prayer, intercession, supplication, and 
thanksgiving unto the Lord, and praise him with psalms 
and hymns and spiritual songs.“ Before the Apostle 
left them, they would, most assuredly, as a seal and 
perfecting of their covenant with God, partake of that 
holy supper which commemorates the love and death of 
their Lord and Master; and, having spiritually eaten 
and drunken his glorified body and blood, pledge them- 
selves to unchangeable fidelity towards their great 
Shepherd, and constant brotherly love towards each 
other. O golden hours and golden days, in which the 
love of God was poured into their hearts by the Holy 
Spirit, and the heavenly dawn which proceeded from 
the light of the world, illuminated every soul! - 

These descriptions and traits are by no means cre- 
ated by the imagination ; on the contrary, they are 
taken from the Holy Scriptures, and even from the 
testimony of those persecutors and enemies of the name 
of Jesus, who lived in the primitive ages of the church. 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 201 


The nearer the first communities of Christians stood in 

point of time to the manifestation of the Lord, and the 

more closely they were bound in spirit to the author 

and finisher of their new life, the more did their fellow- 
ship with one another resemble a silent though joyful 

family-circle, filled with faith, hope, and love, as the 

house at Bethany was with the sweet smelling savor of 
the precious ointment. We, however, whom the Lord 

called while we were afar off, ought now to contem- 

plate this spiritual Eden, untarnished by the world, 
acknowledge our distance from the original simplicity 

of ‘ the elect of God holy and beloved,’ and strive to 

regain it, that it may be developed both in our domes- 
tic and social life. 

The little flock at Caesarea was the first which the 
good Shepherd had gathered together from among the 
Gentiles. They were all children of God, clad with 
the righteousness of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spi- 
rit, a source of joy to the angels, a light amidst dark- 
ness, a rose amongst thorns ; one heart and one soul 
was in them of the highest, noblest, and most glorious 
description, and though their characters were as various 
as the flowers in the field, yet they were all bound to- 
gether in the closest manner, never to be disunited 
through time or through eternity. The friendship of 
David and Jonathan is beautiful and great, but it is 
still more beautiful and still more glorious to lie with 
John on the bosom of our Lord; friendship and love 
are imperfect, if this resting on the heart of Jesus is 
not connected with them, and if the brightness of his 
countenance does not illuminate them. 


202 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


O blessed covenant, whereby all who hearken unto — 
his Gospel are made one with him, as he and the Fa- 
ther are one! . He who has the Son has the Father 
also. 

Can we imagine any thing more joyful or more ex- 
alting than the consciousness that we are the children 
of God, through faith in Jesus Christ ? Even in this 
world it is a highly delightful thing to be the children 
of pious and dearly beloved parents; but how much 
more delightful must it be to be called both in heaven 
and earth the children of that righteous Father who is 
above all; to be permitted to address him by the sa- 
cred name of Abba, to be named as the brethren of Je- 
sus, the glorified one who sits at the right hand of God. 
To share this grace and blessing with our brethren, and 
mutually to strengthen and confirm each other in faith! 
How beautiful, consoling, and joyful is the fellowship 
in heart and soul of those who, whether near or afar 
off, are bound together with us in faith, hope, and 
love, who walk in the same steep and difficult path 
towards the same goal, who struggle and fight, suffer and 
hope, sing praises of joy and thankfulness, pray and 
beseech along with us; no more as guests and stran- 
gers, but as citizens with the saints and of the house- 
hold of God ! 

The little community at Cesarea experienced in the 
highest degree, during those days which the Apostle 
passed in the midst of them, the joy of this blessed fel- 
lowship ; it resembled the day of the marriage feast at 
Cana, when the Lord first manifested his glory. 

Their lives henceforward, however, were not to pass 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 203 


so smoothly; after they had received the word of the 
cross, they must, like the Apostles and faithful confes- 
‘sors of our Lord of every age and country, bear his 
cross and suffer much for his sake. Then must the 
consciousness that their brethren who are in this world 
are exposed to the same temptations and afflictions 
with themselves, strengthen them in faith, truth, and 
love. Peter’s words are, in speaking of the devil, 
‘Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the 
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that 
are in the world.’ 1 Peter, v. 9. 

The community of the faithful upon earth, stands in 
the closest relation, not only to Jesus Christ, their now 
glorified head, but to the inhahitants of ‘ the heavenly © 
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 
to the general assembly and church of the first born 
which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of 
all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,’ Heb. 
xl. 22, 23. To this community belong all who in 
ages past, having believed in the Lord, and having 
fallen asleep in Jesus, have become through him, par- 
takers of eternal life; whether they lived during the 
time of the old covenant, or after the incarnation of 
their Lord, whether they had with the eyes of faith, 
joyfully looked forward to him as the promised one, or 
_ had seen and loved him as the manifested Savior —aAll 
those multitudes belong to the community which is 
above. As we now walk by faith and not by sight, 
let us regard them with the most joyful love ; for much 
more do they, who having conquered, and are now be- 
come like the angels, take part in our daily conflict, 


204 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 


and in the course which it behoves us to run. We 
whose mental vision is obscured by the walls of flesh 
which surround it, can have no conception how near 
they may be to us in spirit. What a blissful thought 
that we belong to the heavenly host of glorified spi- 
rits, who at this present moment are full of love towards 
us, and anxiously looking forward to our speedy re- 
union! And what a joyful thought for us, that we 
shall soon be with them through all eternity! Behold 
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon 
us, that we should be called the sons of God! 

‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be.’ As we 
ourselves live here below in a mortal and imperfect 
body, and as our knowledge, even that which we de- 
rive from prophecy, is but imperfect; so also is the 
church of our Lord upon earth. Although as an ever- 
lasting covenant of peace, it is grounded upon the un- 
changeable grace and mercy of God our Savior, and 
preserves this truth as its most valued treasure, yet 
while here it is only the beginning, and not the fulfil- 
ment, although it looks forward to eternal life, yet out- 
wardly, it is subjected to all the changes and chances of 
this mortal life ; although secure of victory, yet it must 
always be struggling to attain it. The saints are com- 
manded to perfect themselves here, till they ‘ all come 
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fulness of Christ,’ Eph. iv. 13. He 
that has commenced this work is able to accomplish it, 
for ‘ we know that when he shall appear, the believers 
out of every nation shall become like unto him, for they 


PETER TARRIES WITH CORNELIUS. 205 


shall see him as he is.’ If the Lord, according to his 
promise, ‘ shall change our vile body, that it may be 
fashioned like unto his glorious body,’ how much more 
shall he change: and glorify his church, which is his 
own body! Then shall it become the church trium- 
phant, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living 
God illuminated by the glory of the heavenly Father. 
‘He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I 
will be his God, and he shall be my Son, Rev. xxi. 7. 
We behold in the house at Caesarea which was 
_ blessed with such grace and peace, a beautiful picture 
of the community of the Lord, which he has gathered 
together upon earth, and built upon an eternal founda- 
tion, as well as of that future church, which the Lord 
by means of his messengers, shall gather out of every 
nation, and tongue, and people, to praise him in hea- 
ven with unspeakable joy and happiness, for ever and 
ever. And we may well apply to this first congrega- 
tion of God amongst the Gentiles, the words which 
_ Paul uses in comparing the law with the Gospel: 
‘ For if that which was done away was glorious, much 
more that which remaineth is glorious,’ 2 Cor. ii. 11, 










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NOTES. 


Note A.—p. 14. 


Augustine and Theophylact, with most of the modern com- 
mentators, think these to be the same person; and, accordingly, 
the word 6 ras, Matt. vill. 6; which Krummacher supposes 
to mean child, is rendered, in our authorized version, servant, 
a signification which it frequently bears in classical Greek ; 
from the great similarity between the attendant circumstances, 
there is every reason to believe the miracle as related in Matt. 
viii. 5-13, and Luke vii. 1-10, to be the same; on the part of 
the author there seems to be some slight confusion between 
the two narratives, which, however, can only be discovered by 
referring to the original. 





Note B.—pp. 14, and 75. 


Another translation of this passage (1 Cor. i. 26,) has been 
proposed, which makes it much more consistent with the 
Apostle’s argument, by merely substituting the active for the 
passive voice in the case of the words in Italics, (are called), 
which are not in the original, and which must, therefore, be 
supplied according to the translator’s view of the context. St. 
Paul had been speaking of the sin of the Corinthian Christians 
in causing divisions by following ‘Paul, and Apollos, and Ce- 
phas,’ as leaders of parties, and affirms that there was nothing 





208 - - NOTES. 


to recommend the Gospel either in the mode in which it was 


- preached, as not being ‘ with wisdom of words;’ nor yet in 


the preachers of it, such as the fishermen of Galilee,’ and he 
adds, ‘for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many 
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, 
call you ; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world 
to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things 
of the world to confound the things which are mighty.’ &e. 


Note C.—p. 15. 


British Theologians are divided in opinion as to Cornelius 
being a proselyte or only a devout Gentile; in Townsend’s Ar- 
rangement of the New Testament, there is a very learned dis- 
sertation appended to Acts x. to prove that the Gospel was 
preached first to the Jews in Palestine; secondly, to the prose- 
lytes; and lastly, to the Gentiles:—to the second of which 
classes he supposes Cornelius to have belonged. Krummacher, 


however, thinks differently, and the reasons advanced by him 


are not without weight. Had he been a proselyte, Peter 
would not have hesitated to receive him into the community 
of Christians by baptism, nor would he have been called in 
question by his Jewish brethren for so doing, as the multitude 
said of those filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pente- 
cost, ‘ We hear proselytes speak in our own tongues the won- 
derful works of God,’ Acts ii. 10, 11. 


Nore D.—p. 42. — 


‘In this circumstance, we may perceive, how Peter con- 
tinued faithfully to observe the rules and customs of Judaism ; 
little aware that they were soon to cease and give place to the 


worshiping of God in spirit and in truth.’ Many of the rites 


NOTES. ri’ 209 


of Judaism doubtless terminated with the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, but it is manifest from Scripture, that God does not 
intend that the national distinction between Jew and Gentile 
should ever cease, nor is it the case that the observance of 
Jewish customs is inconsistent with worshiping him in spirit 
and in truth. St Paul, although the Apostle of the Gentiles, _ 
made great exertions to keep the Jewish feasts at Jerusalem. 
In the latter part of Ezekiel’s prophecy there is a minute ac- 
count of the Temple yet to be rebuilt ; its situation and orna- 
ments are described, and its priesthood appointed. In their 
present dispersion the Jews, as suffering under the judgments 
of God, are for ‘a sign and a wonder,’ Deut. xxviii. 46, and in 
their restoration they will be a miracle of mercy, but in neither 
case could God’s purpose be accomplished, unless by their 
being preserved a distinct people. 


ee 


Note E.—p. 43. 


This was the highest and most excellent way of all other, 
of revelations, when a man was rapt even from himself into 
heaven, and was wholly in the spirit ; being for the time, as it 
were, out of the body, and in the very next degree to souls de- 
parted, enjoying God. Seven manner of extraordinary ways 
did God use to reveal himself and his will to his people in an- 
cient times; 1. By dreams; 2. By apparitions, when they 
were awake; 3. By visions, when they were asleep; 4. By a 
voice from heaven; 5. By Urim; 6. By inspiration or reveal- 
ing of the ear; 7. ‘By rapture or ecstacy ; and this last the 
‘most excellent as to him that did enjoy it. 

LigutFooT on Acts, ch. ix. 





210 fh “an , NOTES. 
Nore F.—p. 83. 


In the original there is a Paronomasia or play upon the ex- 
pression, ‘the word or the wonderful gift of speech,’ which 
runs through several passages—a practice very common with 
German writers: to this it is impossible to do justice ina 
translation. At one time the author seems to refer to the Lo- 
gos, or Eternal Word, John i. 1.) at another to human speech ;. 
and sometimes both ideas seem involved in the same expres- 
sion. The thoughts which appear to have been present to the 
mind of Krummacher, while writing this passage regarding 
the value of language, have been'’very elegantly expressed by. 
Dr. Blair, in his Introduction to his Lectures on Rhetoric :— 

“ One of the most distinguished privileges which Providence 
has conferred upon mankind is the power of communicating 
their thoughts toone another. Destitute of this power, reason 
would be a solitary, and in some measure an unavailing prin- 
ciple. Speech is the great instrument by which man becomes 
beneficial to man; and it is to the intercourse and transmission 
of thought, by means of speech, that we are chiefly indebted 
for the improvement of thought itself. Small are the advan- 
ces which a single unassisted individual can make towards 
perfecting any of his powers. What we call human reason, 
is not the effort or ability of one, so much as it is the result of 
the reason of many, arising from lights mutually communicat- 
ed, in consequence of discourse and writing.” 





Note G.—p. 156. 


““ Even the heathens had their prophets, who unconsciously, 
and against their own will, Psa aut like Balaam_ of old, of 
~ the One that should come.’ 

The same sentiments have been expressed by Bishop Hor- 
sley, 1 in a very elaborate Dissertation ‘On the Prophecies of 
thé Messiah dispersed among the Heathen,” from which the 
following extracts are taken :— 


re 


NOTES. f . “Oll 


“ For the more perspicuous arrangement of my argument, L oc 


shall divide it into two parts. 

“First, I shall prove the fact from historical evidence, that 
the Gentile world, in the darkest ages, was in possession not of 
vague and traditional, but of explicit written prophecies of 
Christ. When I have established the fact, and by that means 
" shown the immediate cause of the expectation which so gene- 

rally prevailed, I shall then produce the more remote and 
higher cause, and prove that these written prophecies were — 
the remains of divine oracles of the earliest ages. ee 

“First, for the fact that the Gentile world, in the darkest 
ages, was possessed of explicit written prophecies of Christ, . 
I shall found the proof of it on the contents of a very extediit- 
dinary book, which was preserved at Rome, under the name 
of the Oracles of the Cumaean Sibyl, which was held in such 
veneration, that it was deposited in a stone chest in the tem- 
ple of Jupiter in the Capitol, and committed to the care of two 
persons expressly appointed to that office. I shall take my 
idea of the contents of these books entirely from the testimony 
of heathen writers,” &c. &c. 

“From the extreme depravity of the times, and from the 
wickedness of Balaam’s own character, it has been doubted 
whether he was properly a prophet. The difficulty of con- 
ceiving that true prophets should be found in an idolatrous 
nation, if I mistake not, I have already removed by the ana- 
logy which I have shown to subsist between ancient and mo- 
dern corruptions. The difficulty of conceiving that the gift 
of prophecy should be imparted to a wicked character, will be 
much softened, if not entirely removed, if we recollect the con- 
fessed crimes of some of the Jewish Prophets, and the confess- 
ed indiscretions of some persons who shared in the miraculous 
gifts of the Spirit in the primitive Churches. 

“ Balaam’s impiety at last ran to the length of open rebel- 
lion against God; for he suggested to the king of Moab, as the 
only means by which the fortunes of the Israelites could be 
injured, the infernal stratagem of enticing them to take a part 
in that idolatry for which, bythe tenor of his own predictions, 















e ‘ihe dentin to ded ‘uct 
of } m was subsequent to the pr 
to Balak; and was the effect of the 

casion presentéd, hour. pele and m1 
“ Cou : 





in Balaam set ie | sun iat proptidll 

e Gentile world, and yet a total night came 1 

; ages a twilight glimmered in the sky, which iad 
ie and became at last almost insensible, but began to brigh 

: 3 again during the captivity of the Jews under the Babylo- 

nian monarchs, and from that period continued to gather 

strength, till at length the morning star took its station over 


me the stable at Bethlehem.” ch eo 
rae 


Pik is 

















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—s : : Si be ig ah 


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